APC slams Metuh over alleged plan to destabilise PDP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday that it would not allow itself to be polluted by defectors from the Peoples Demecratic Party (PDP).

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in Abuja that the party already has its hands full as it seeks to “clear the mess that the PDP has made of Nigeria and the state of hopelessness to which its 16-year rule has plunged the citizens.”

It also dismissed allegation by the PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh that the APC was behind the crumbling of the PDP.

It offered Mr. Metuh a free, six-week crash course on his new role as the opposition spokesman.

“During the training, Metuh will be given free lessons by his APC counterpart, in the spirit of cooperation and for the advancement of the nation’s democracy,” the APC said, adding that he “will need the training to effectively carry out his new, tough task. It is now obvious that he needs to understand that for him to succeed in his new role, he must be credible, empirical, more sophisticated in language use and very passionate, in addition to being able to operate on a lean or zero budget.’’

APC said it was ludicrous for anyone to suggest that the APC “is seeking to destabilize the PDP when the ruling party has done such a great job of crumbling under its own weight, having gorged on the commonwealth.

‘’Really, it beggars belief to say that the APC is seeking to lure away members of the PDP’s NEC with ‘phantom promises and threats’, with a view to destabilising the party, when everyone knows the rate at which PDP stalwarts have been rushing to jump off the sinking ship called the PDP before it finally tips over.

‘’Our National Chairman and our President-elect have even spoken out publicly on this issue, encouraging the eager PDP defectors to stay back in their party so they can provide a formidable opposition to the new ruling party. How then can anyone accuse the APC of either luring away PDP members or seeking to destabilise a party that has done itself in?’’

The APC advised Metuh to “take a little time off so he can engage in some introspection, against the backdrop of the total repudiation by Nigerians of the brand of politics that his party, the PDP, played in its days as the ruling party.

‘’There is no doubt that Metuh is in a hurry to do his work as an opposition spokesman. He should not worry. He should save his energy, because he would need it, in addition to the crash course which has been offered to him freely, if he is to function effectively in his new role. Having been in opposition for so long, we can tell Metuh that it is not a cakewalk.

‘’Lies by themselves never travel far enough for the truth not to catch up with them, as the PDP must have now realised when its strategy of muckraking, distortion of facts and blatant falsehood – under the guise of electioneering campaign – failed to turn the tide in its favour during the last elections. But it seems the lead actors in that failed strategy, Metuh included, have not yet learnt their lessons, hence they have continued to engage in their despicable pastime.”