Stop acting like a rebel group, PDP tells APC

                                                  Olisa Metuh

The Peoples Democratic Party has counselled the All Progressives Congress to jettison all undemocratic and anti-people tendencies and imbibe proper comportment as an opposition party in a democratic setting.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said with its new leadership, Nigerians expect a new behaviour from the APC, adding that the opposition party “must understand that it is not a rebel group, and as such, must throw over-board all actions and tendencies that portray it in that light.”

Metuh said, “Nigerians of all walks of life have continued to express worry over the character of the APC as an opposition party.

“The APC must realise that in a democracy, being an opposition party demands a great responsibility marked by constructive engagement and propagation of alternatives in the general interest.

“The APC must be advised to undertake a survey of how other opposition parties conduct themselves. Being an opposition party does not, in any way, confer a culture of irresponsibility; being an opposition party does not in any way confer a licence for promotion of violence; and being an opposition party does not confer use of blackmail and falsehood as means of achieving political control.”

He said Nigerians were no longer comfortable with an opposition driven by frustration and bitterness, characterised by a compulsive penchant for lies and deceit.

He said Nigerians would not want an opposition that has no regard for the national interest but behaves as if it has no stake in the Nigerian project, adding that Nigerians would want an opposition that would purposefully engage on issues with integrity and honesty and not with falsehood and deceit.

Metuh noted that despite its change of leadership, the APC has continued with its culture of lies. He said, “There is nothing in the last one week that shows that they are willing to jettison this despicable and unpatriotic stance.”

Insisting that the APC does not have the interest of the nation at heart, the PDP spokesperson likened the actions of the APC to that of the Biblical woman, who he said, out of frustration, pressed King Solomon to kill and divide the baby of an innocent mother for no just cause.