3rd November, 2015
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as outlandish and irrational the claim by the PDP that it was robbed of victory in last Saturday’s Borno Central Senatorial election with the use of “compromised electoral officials and security forces”.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it amounts to dishonesty on the part of the PDP to expect victory in Borno State, where it had a dismal outing during the last general elections in March and April, and where the opposition party has remained sharply divided.
“For the umpteenth time, we will like to say that for any opposition to be credible and relevant, it must avoid engaging in bare-faced distortion of facts and making ridiculous claims that cannot be supported by available evidence. What the PDP has done by giving the impression that it could have won the Borno Central Senatorial election but for the alleged
use of compromised electoral officials and security forces is ludicrous.
“We have therefore decided to present the facts to Nigerians so they can be the judge. In the 2015 presidential elections, our party, the APC, got 473,543 votes compared to a paltry 25,640 received by the PDP. In the 2015 Governorship election in Borno, APC scored 649,913 votes to the measly 34,771 by the PDP.
“The National Assembly election was not different. The APC won all three seats in the Senate and 10 in the House of Representatives, leaving nothing for the pitiful PDP. The APC also won 28 seats in the State House of Assembly in which the pathetic PDP got zero seat.
“Put these figures side by side with the fact that the people of Borno have long distanced themselves from the PDP, which presided over the worst moment in the history of the state that saw thousands of deaths, displacements as well as destruction of schools, farms, markets, etc, by Boko Haram, and one can clearly realize that the PDP was simply lying to itself and the nation by suggesting that it had any chance in last Saturday’s election.
“It is also clear that while nothing has changed in Borno to make the good people of the state to vote for the PDP, a lot has happened to bring even more people into the fold of the APC. The obvious successes scored by the military under a purposeful APC Federal Government has eased the pains and sufferings of the people of the state, with the state government rebuilding damaged schools to put more pupils in school while schools that have been shut for long are being reopened.
“The PDP is simply not on ground in Borno, and it amounts to a dishonourable behaviour for anyone to suggest that the party could have won last Saturday’s election in the state. Stretching such incredulity to now say that our democracy is threatened under President Muhammadu Buhari is outlandish, uncharitable and irresponsible,” APC said.
The party reminded the PDP, which has always been quick to say it will provide credible opposition, that there is nothing credible in presenting fiction as fact, or in daily making wild and unsubstantiated allegations against a President who is busy cleaning the mess left behind by the same do-nothing PDP.
“Within the space of five months, the increasingly desperate politicians of the PDP stock have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at President Buhari, to no avail. They have sought, but failed, to instigate their members and supporters against the Buhari administration. Apparently, those members and supporters are more prudent.
“They (PDP politicians) have continued to huff and puff, while threatening fire and brimstone against the Buhari administration, to the chagrin of Nigerians who expect them to show some penance for the mess they turned Nigeria into during their time in charge.
Surely, there must still be some decent men and women in the PDP who can halt the party’s seemingly determined effort to self-destruct,” it said.