The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as irresponsible, cheap and inflammatory PDP’s statement that President Goodluck Jonathan is being criticised by the opposition because he is from a minority geo-political zone.
In a statement issued in Lagos, yesterday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party expressed shock and disappointment that a party that has always been quick to tout its ‘nationalist’ credentials would stoop so low as to stoke the fire of sectional politics.
The party said that if the PDP felt that the President was being unfairly criticised over his administration’s poor performance, it should use verifiable facts and figures, not cooked-up statistics, to counter such criticism, instead of resorting to a desperate tactics that could inflame the polity.
ACN reminded the PDP that President Jonathan, as a democratically-elected leader, is subject to criticism from those who elected him into office as well as the opposition, which has a stake in the well-being of the country.
‘’President Jonathan is not an oracle or the head of an absolute monarchy who cannot be criticised. He is a democratically-elected President whose actions are subject to scrutiny by the people, irrespective of what part of the country he comes from.
‘’This statement credited to the PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh, is unprecedented. Never before has the spokesman of a ruling party or a central government in Nigeria accused the opposition of criticising the President because he is from one part of the country. This statement can only be the product of a lazy and desperate party official, who will find the easy way out, even at the risk of setting the country on fire, just to keep his job,’’ the party said.
It wondered why the PDP did not blame the scathing criticism of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua on the fact that they were from a section of the country, considering that both former leaders were not spared by the opposition during their tenure.