{"id":9256,"date":"2013-02-07T17:48:20","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T16:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=9256"},"modified":"2013-02-07T17:48:20","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T16:48:20","slug":"party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/","title":{"rendered":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the opposition parties for their successful merger and formation of the new All Progressive Congress (APC), expressing optimism that an era of robust debates to improve the country has come.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling party said as the biggest party in West Africa, it welcomes the development as an indication that the nation&#8217;s democracy has come of age and is deepening.<\/p>\n<p>The party also said it continues to be the truly democratic party and the party to beat in elections.<\/p>\n<p>PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said with the formation of the APC, the PDP and indeed all Nigerians should expect to see robust debates on the economy and other issues of governance in the general interest of the country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We congratulate the opposition for their successful merger and the formation of the All Progressive Congress. This is yet another victory to our democracy. It shows\u00a0 that our democracy has come of age. We hope that from now we will see robust debates on the economy and other issues of governance,&#8221; the party said.<\/p>\n<p>The party charged the opposition to use the vehicle of their new party to challenge PDP elected and appointed officers to debates on government projects and achievements so that at the end of the day, Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries of the nation&#8217;s political developments.<\/p>\n<p>It said it is ready and willing at anytime to debate on any issue pertaining to the economy or any other issue that will bring out positive suggestions to move the nation forward.&#8221;We charge the opposition to use the new party to challenge our elected and appointed officers on debates on issues of governance.\u00a0 We are ready, willing and able at any time to debate on any issue pertaining to the economy and any other issue of governance. We want useful and constructive debates so that at the end of the day, Nigerians will be the utmost beneficiaries&#8221;, the party said.<\/p>\n<p>The PDP however said as a ruling party that is committed to the stability and development of the country, it will not dwell on the shortcomings of the merger arrangement but will continue to focus on the welfare of the people.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the opposition parties for their successful merger and formation of the new All Progressive Congress (APC), expressing optimism that an era of robust&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the opposition parties for their successful merger and formation of the new All Progressive Congress (APC), expressing optimism that an era of robust&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\",\"name\":\"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News","og_description":"The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated the opposition parties for their successful merger and formation of the new All Progressive Congress (APC), expressing optimism that an era of robust&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates","datePublished":"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/"},"wordCount":381,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/","name":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg","datePublished":"2013-02-07T16:48:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/METUHH.jpg","width":400,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/party-merger-pdp-hails-arrival-of-apc-urge-robust-debates\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Party Merger: PDP Hails Arrival of APC, Urge Robust Debates"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}