The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said the aim of the recent bomb blasts and attacks on Nigerians in Kano and Kaduna was to cow the people, destablise the polity and destroy the future of the nation.
The party reacting to the bomb blast in the School of Hygiene in Kano as well as attacks on some Kaduna communities in which many innocent Nigerians was killed and several others wounded.
According to a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, “While we condemn in very strong terms, these wicked and senseless attacks on our citizens, we invite Nigerians to note the pattern and timing which betray a trend tailored against the PDP and the federal government.”
PDP said it had observed that it had become a recurrent decimal that whenever the PDP or the federal government records or is about to record a major milestone, insurgents launch attacks on the people, the most recent being the Kano and Kaduna attacks which came at the wake of PDP’s victory in Ekiti State last Saturday and ahead of the ground-breaking and unveiling ceremony of the Centenary City by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday.
The party asked in the statement, “Was it a mere coincidence that bombs went off in Nyanya, in Abuja on Monday, April 14, 2014, killing over a hundred innocent citizens at a time the world focused on Nigeria for the hosting of the 25th World Economic Forum in Abuja?
“Was it also a mere coincidence that the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted by insurgents the following day? Were these attacks part of a plot to divert attention from the gains of the forum and paint the federal government as incompetent and the nation as unsafe?
“Was the Nyanya bombing deliberately timed to stop the PDP rally already scheduled for Tuesday, April 16 in Kano following apprehension by some opposition elements that the rally may expose and spell doom for their precarious political hold on the state?
“Was it mere coincidence that insurgents attacked and bombed Jos Terminus Market killing hundreds of Nigerians on Thursday, May 20, two days before the shelved PDP mega rally in Ekiti State? Was the attack not planned to ultimately stop the rally for fear that it would further the already soaring popularity of the PDP in the state?
“Was it also a mere co-incidence that these attacks scaled up after
President Goodluck Jonathan performed the ground breaking ceremony of the Second Niger Bridge in March, also to divert attention from that achievement?”, PDP asked rhetorically in the statement.
According to the statement, Metuh said, “We wonder if it was also a coincidence that insurgents attacked the Mamudo Government Secondary School in Yobe, killing 41 school children and a teacher on July 6, 2013, a day after President Goodluck Jonathan commenced the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.”
Accordingly, the PDP national spokesperson said that the party is compelled to invite Nigerians to critically examine the timing and mode of the series of attacks since the emergence of the current administration and make deductions regarding whose interest they serve.
The statement therefore asked: “Are there elements that desperately use these attacks to attempt to slow the tempo of governance and further their efforts to discredit the PDP-led administration as a means to achieve political control?
“We had earlier raised our concerns over a connection or correlation
between the attacks and the capacity of a major opposition party to
thrive. We noted that a party which had lost its voice suddenly regained its drive and impetus after the abduction of the Chibok school girls and the Nyanya bomb blast.”
PDP therefore said Nigerians can neither be cowed nor
intimidated, stating that as a party entrusted with the sacred mandate of leadership, the PDP will remain steadfast in its commitment to Nigerians and the Nigerian project.
The party commiserated with Nigerians, saying, “The PDP sincerely commiserates with the families of the deceased even as we pray for speedy recovery for the wounded. Our hearts and prayers go to them all”.
The party called on all Nigerians to continue to be alert and resist
attempts by desperate enemies of Nigeria to destroy the common
heritage and the unity Nigerians enjoy as a people.
