Primaries will tear APC apart –PDP

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party has said that the opposition political parties merging to form the All Progressive Congress do not have the capacity to hold primaries to choose those who would be contesting on its platform in 2015.

The PDP said if the APC held primaries, many of its supporters would be angry with the outcome and this would tear the party apart.

“We challenge the opposition also to be bold enough to hold primaries when the time comes. Many of those singing praises of the alliance will be betrayed and victimised by the godfathers and it will dawn on them that they have been deceived,” the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

But the APC has said it is not afraid of conducting primaries.

It said Nigerians believed in it because they know they would not give automatic ticket to any aspirant.

While taking stock of the unfolding political events in the country, including merger arrangements, Metuh said that there were positive signs and concrete indications that the PDP would still win the Presidency and more states by 2015.

He dispelled fears that divergence of views and opinions among members of the PDP were capable of weakening it ahead of the 2015 elections.

Metuh said the PDP appeared to be in crisis because all members of the party had opportunity to air their views and to freely canvass their opinions unlike what he said obtained in the opposition parties where he said opinions and views of members had been muzzled by political godfathers.

He, therefore, dismissed as “shadow chasing and day-dreaming,” boasts by the leaders of the APC that they would take over government in 2015.

While saying that power lies only with the people and not in the hands of few individuals, Metuh added that the opposition alliance would soon be in disarray. He said that most of those in the ranks would be betrayed and victimised by the godfathers, who, he said, saw the coalition as their personal estates.

Metuh said the opposition were already doomed “to fail as Nigerians have since realised that they are merely strange bed fellows” who have nothing to offer but united by “bitterness, frustration, and religious and tribal sentiments.”

According to him, “We welcome the opposition to the contest. However, they are already doomed to failure because Nigerians have since realised their undemocratic tendencies and desperation for power for selfish reasons.

He said, “Nigerians know that they are merely strange bed fellows who are united by bitterness, frustration and religious and tribal sentiments and not for the national interest.

“They have continued to betray their lust and inner disposition by their utterances in seeking to ‘seize power’ which has remained their only agenda.

“They fail to understand that in a democracy, power is not to be seized. It is conferred by the people and this is the reason the people have continued to identify with the PDP.

“The PDP believes in the people. No individual, group or tribe owns the PDP. It belongs to all Nigerians. The PDP is a big family, united in freedom. In a family there are bound to be divergence of opinions and views and this occurs where people are free.

“What outsiders see as internal disagreements is actually a reflection of the democratic stance of the PDP.”

 “The PDP is the only party where people are absolutely free to express their views and freely canvass their opinions unlike in the opposition parties where the views and opinions of members are muzzled by their godfathers,” he added.

PUNCH