20th May, 2014
The All Progressives Congress issued a statement today on the war against insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast and the rescue efforts for the 223 abducted school girls. The statement was entitled: FG’s insincerity in the fight against Boko Haram/Search for abducted girls
“We make bold to say that the Federal Government has been very insincere in its persistent call for national unity to combat the despicable Boko Haram sect.
This has been manifest, perhaps more than at any other time, since the tragic abduction of over 200 school girls from Chibok over a month ago.
Up to this moment, the Federal Government has yet to reach out to the APC, the main opposition party, on how to forge a common front against this despicable terror group, despite our incessant efforts to reach out to the government.
Nigerians will recall our various interventions in which we stated clearly that only a non-partisan approach could help extricate Nigeria from the death grip of Boko Haram; how we have consistently called on the government to organize a national stakeholders’ summit to put all hands on deck and how we have made a number of recommendations which we feel can help pep up the fight against the terror group.
The only response we have received so far is that in which the government said it had implemented or it is implementing those recommendations anyway, in what clearly amounts to an unnecessary hubris and a cold shoulder.
The Federal Government that has been calling on the international community for assistance must know that charity begins at home, and that for all hands to be on deck, the APC cannot be ignored.
A party that controls 16 out of 36 states and has over 40 Senators and over 150 members in the House of Representatives is too big to be ignored at a critical time like this in the life of our nation.
A party that controls the three hardest-hit states by the Boko Haram insurgency cannot be excluded from any serious effort to tackle the insurgency.
Interestingly, the federal government that has been clamouring for support in the anti-terrorism fight did not deem it fit to even reach out to the APC ahead of its announcement of its extension of the state of emergency in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
We therefore call on the government to stop politicizing the fight against Boko Haram and to show sincerity of purpose in its call for a national front to confront the sect.
This government must jettison its jaundiced, ridiculous and clearly-partisan view that portrays our party as the sponsor of Boko Haram. This is mere politicking and should stop.
It is noteworthy that a few minutes after the first Nyanya bombing, the PDP issued a statement blaming the APC for the blast. Now that the masterminds of the blast have been arrested and none of them has been proven to have any link with our party, the PDP has yet to admit its faux pas and apologize not just to our party but to the entire nation.
Our party remains committed to a non-partisan approach to end the scourge of Boko Haram, despite the federal government’s partisanship.”