The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is gravely alarmed and totally disgusted at the PDP’s decision to use religion as a trump card in the run-up to 2015, warning that even in its desperation to
cling to power at all cost, the ruling party must desist from fanning the embers of religion
”This irresponsible accusation by the PDP that the APC is dividing Nigerians along religious line is a new low even for a party that stands for nothing but incompetence, looting and election rigging. It
is an indication that the desperadoes in the PDP will throw everything, including the kitchen sink, into their campaign to stop the wave of change blowing across Nigeria,” the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It said the reason it has refrained from joining issues with the PDP, despite its sponsored campaign to portray the APC as an ”Islamic”party, is because it (APC) knows the dangers that religious politics
portends for any nation that brings religion into politics, and that no nation which has descended into religious warfare has survived intact.
”No party wishing to lead Nigeria aright can do so on the basis of religion or ethnicity. Therefore, we are compelled to warn the PDP not to play what it believes to be its trump card, the religious card,
against the APC, because whatever politicians do, they must refrain from ethnic or religious politics and put their country above selfish considerations. Only an irresponsible party will play the religious
card for any reason,” APC said.
The party said even when the PDP’s top leader, President Goodluck Jonathan, decided to wear religion on his sleeve, kneeling down before respectable religious leaders and pushing the pictures into the media
in an apparent ploy to score political gains, the APC refrained from making any comments on it.
It said when President Jonathan also decided to lead a bloated delegation of his cabinet to an extended pilgrimage in Israel and ferret to the media back home the pictures of the delegation members
at the Wailing Wall and other religious landmarks, the APC did not make an issue of the glaring exhibitionism.
”The basis of our circumspection is that in the first instance, we believe that all Nigerians are constitutionally guaranteed their right to any faith of their own choosing, and that playing their religious card should be avoided at all cost in the larger national interest,” APC said.
The party said it is neither logical nor rational to accuse a party whose 35 interim officials are almost equally split between the adherents of the two major religions (18 Muslims and 17 Christians)
and cuts across all ethnic lines; a party whose elected officials – Governors, Senators, House of Representatives members etc – profess various faith and a party that has never expressed any preference for one religion over another as an ”Islamic” party.
”We are therefore warning the PDP to stop this dangerous campaign forthwith, unless of course it has decided that its interest supersedes that of the nation. If the PDP fails to stop this campaign,
we will be compelled to conclude that the party (PDP) is trying to plug in to the global stereotype against adherents of a certain religion just to spread fear and garner support in certain circles,”
it said.
APC appealed to Nigerians to ignore the dangerous game that the PDP is playing by labelling the APC an ”Islamic” party as a scaremongering tactics that the comatose ruling party hopes will revive it.
”Nigerians have a history of religious tolerance that has served the country so well. We urge our compatriots to continue along this path, irrespective of the antics of a party that has finally drowned due to its own internal failings and contradictions,” the party said.
It called for a clean electioneering campaign that focuses on issues that are relevant to the well-being of the long-suffering people of Nigeria and issues that are edifying for the country, saying Nigerians
want to know, for example, how the present situation of hopelessly can be turned around, how corruption can be stamped out; how a 24-hour electricity supply will be achieved just like in most countries of the
world; how our teeming unemployed youths will be gainfully employed and how our dilapidated infrastructure will be rebuilt.
”On our part, we are focused on issues that will lift the living standard of Nigerians and make our country great again, and these we have enunciated in our manifesto which is accessible on our website.
And once the green-light is given for electioneering campaign, we will be ready to unveil our strategies for achieving the stated objectives.
”For now, we ask anyone who needs to be convinced of our capability to visit any of the states under our control and see how we are utilizing the scarce resources at our disposal for quality-of-life
initiatives that are serving the people well,” APC said Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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APC...even if u are not,Buhari is..
ReplyDeleteStop nagging APC!dats wot u are!face it,nigerians undastand aw ur party is running state affairs in osun state!
ReplyDeletePDP did not call you an Islamic party, it was an Islamic scholar based in the North who said it.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are called an Islamic party, and you know that Islamic extremism is associate with violence yet you are here 'warning'. Is that not an affirmation that you guys are violent? It is totally false that you are on issues, it is even evil. You people started calling the president a drunken fisherman, is that what you called an issue?
You guys cant handle a taste of your own medicine! lol. Its APC that first started with name calling and now they expect not to be called an islamic party. Talk is cheap; they should prove us wrong by making their presidential primary open to both christians and muslims from every ethnic region alike instead of telling us it has been zoned to the north alone and a muslim northerner for that matter.
ReplyDeleteWe are not convince because the party is dominated with extremist and BH supoters.We'll be convince only when a christian is nominated to be a flag-bearer.
ReplyDeleteAPC..... DEY ARE COMING UP TO HAVE THEIR OWN SHARE OF THE CAKE..
ReplyDeleteNONE OF THEM HAS GOOD INTENTION FOR NIGERIANS...
APC OWN WILL BE WORSER THAN PDP.......................DEVIL U KNOW CAN BE HANDLED !
They will soon Islamize the entire Nigeria country. They seem to find fault in everything. They dont see the good in the Nigerian present day government. How do u think they can rule Nigerians ?
ReplyDeleteAPC can not make any good to nigerians if they insult another party. on the contrary, APC in person of Buhari has nothing to offer to us, other than revenge and if possible split the country in three.
ReplyDelete