The All Progressive Congress, APC, has warned the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, to stop sabotaging its efforts at conducting a peaceful
registration exercise.
The APC said the PDP has in several states sponsored acts of sabotage
against its membership drive, saying the ruling party is attempting to put
a cog in the wheel of democracy.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said since one of the ways to
truncate democracy is by stifling popular participation, the PDP as a
party stands accused of working to truncate Nigeria’s democracy by its
campaign of lies against the APC membership registration, which is aimed
at giving as many Nigerians as possible a chance to be part of their
country’s constitutional democracy.
It said the only reason the PDP called a hurried press conference to spew
out lies on another party’s membership registration exercise is because
the ruling party has seen the handwriting on the wall, since the
registration started, and has consequently become overly jittery.
”The PDP is wrong about its claim that the APC is engaging in phantom
registration. The party should know that while anyone can manufacture
numbers, no one can manufacture human beings. Therefore, in the fullness
of time, any party that gives a fake number of its membership will get its
comeuppance.
”The truth is that within the first three days of our registration
exercise, we had met and exceeded the target we set for ourselves.
Nigerians have flocked to our party, which they have come to see more as a
mass movement than just a political party. This explains why we have
extended the registration period by two days. The PDP is aware of the
widespread acceptability of the APC and has started quivering,” APC said
The party said instead of splitting hairs over the phenomenal APC
registration exercise, the PDP should go out there and launch its own
membership drive if it wants to know what Nigerians think of it.
”PDP officials should not just sit in their Abuja offices and make phantom
allegations about some party engaging in phantom registration, They should
go out there and see for themselves what is going on, and how Nigerians
are streaming aboard the train of change that the APC has become,” it
said.
APC also asked the PDP to stop trying to sabotage its membership
registration by sponsoring attacks on registration officials and hijacking
registration materials in Abia and Rivers, bribing some fifth columnists
to sabotage the process in Delta, and burning down our secretariat in
Gombe
The party denied getting any assistance whatsoever from the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) or using any material obtained from
the commission, ”except of course if the public spaces we are using for
the registration are now being seen by the PDP as INEC’s property”.
”The PDP accused the APC of trying to truncate the country’s democracy
simply because the party (APC) is giving Nigerians the opportunity to
exercise their constitutional right to associate freely. It is now clear
to all discerning Nigerians that it is indeed the PDP that is working hard
to truncate our democracy by blocking popular participation and preventing
Nigerians from exercise their rights,” the party said.