The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised alarm over purported plans by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to carry out violent attacks on its leaders in order to blame it on the ruling party.
This was made known on Friday, February 13, 2015 via a statement by Femi Fani-Kayode, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation in Abuja.
Fani-Kayode enthused that the plot to simulate violence was another attempt by the APC to propagate propaganda to the populace in order to score cheap political points on the basis of sentiment.
He said: “It has been brought to our attention that a section of the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has now perfected plans to simulate violent attacks on members of their own party and then point fingers at supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP for such attacks in order to portray us as being violent.
“As diabolical as this plan appears to be, it should come as no surprise to the Nigerian people given the antecedents of the APC. It is their stock-in-trade and their hallmark to engage in cheap propaganda and blackmail and to indulge in the most hideous form of violence. The recent torching of some of the branded buses of our party by the APC in Jos did not come to us as a surprise.
“Again the attacks on the convoy of our candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, whilst he was campaigning in Katsina, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa and Kaduna States were all carried out by members of the APC and the supporters and disciples of General Muhammadu Buhari.
“As an example of their sheer deceit and chicanery, there is a video of the burning of our campaign buses all over social media. This video footage showed a group of hoodlums offering songs of praise to General Muhammadu Buhari and chanting war songs whilst they indulged in a gruesome and unrestrained orgy of violence. Yet the APC still attempted to deceive Nigerians by claiming that the burning of the buses was carried out by members of the PDP in Plateau State.
“The fact of the matter is that our party was not embroiled in any violent intra-party fracas in Plateau state. Furthermore our party leaders and members in Plateau State have demonstrated the highest level of decorum and civility even in the face of sponsored violence in the state.”
