The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it is gravely alarmed and
totally disgusted at the PDP’s decision to use religion as a trump
card in the run-up to 2015, warning that even in its desperation to
cling to power at all cost, the ruling party must desist from fanning
the embers of religion
”This irresponsible accusation by the PDP that the APC is dividing
Nigerians along religious line is a new low even for a party that
stands for nothing but incompetence, looting and election rigging. It
is an indication that the desperadoes in the PDP will throw
everything, including the kitchen sink, into their campaign to stop
the wave of change blowing across Nigeria,” the party said in a
statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its Interim National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It said the reason it has refrained from joining issues with the PDP,
despite its sponsored campaign to portray the APC as an ”Islamic”
party, is because it (APC) knows the dangers that religious politics
portends for any nation that brings religion into politics, and that
no nation which has descended into religious warfare has survived
intact.
”No party wishing to lead Nigeria aright can do so on the basis of
religion or ethnicity. Therefore, we are compelled to warn the PDP not
to play what it believes to be its trump card, the religious card,
against the APC, because whatever politicians do, they must refrain
from ethnic or religious politics and put their country above selfish
considerations. Only an irresponsible party will play the religious
card for any reason,” APC said.
The party said even when the PDP’s top leader, President Goodluck
Jonathan, decided to wear religion on his sleeve, kneeling down before
respectable religious leaders and pushing the pictures into the media
in an apparent ploy to score political gains, the APC refrained from
making any comments on it.
It said when President Jonathan also decided to lead a bloated
delegation of his cabinet to an extended pilgrimage in Israel and
ferret to the media back home the pictures of the delegation members
at the Wailing Wall and other religious landmarks, the APC did not
make an issue of the glaring exhibitionism.
”The basis of our circumspection is that in the first instance, we
believe that all Nigerians are constitutionally guaranteed their right
to any faith of their own choosing, and that playing their religious
card should be avoided at all cost in the larger national interest,”
APC said.
The party said it is neither logical nor rational to accuse a party
whose 35 interim officials are almost equally split between the
adherents of the two major religions (18 Muslims and 17 Christians)
and cuts across all ethnic lines; a party whose elected officials –
Governors, Senators, House of Representatives members etc – profess
various faith and a party that has never expressed any preference for
one religion over another as an ”Islamic” party.
”We are therefore warning the PDP to stop this dangerous campaign
forthwith, unless of course it has decided that its interest
supersedes that of the nation. If the PDP fails to stop this campaign,
we will be compelled to conclude that the party (PDP) is trying to
plug in to the global stereotype against adherents of a certain
religion just to spread fear and garner support in certain circles,”
it said.
APC appealed to Nigerians to ignore the dangerous game that the PDP is
playing by labelling the APC an ”Islamic” party as a scaremongering
tactic that the comatose ruling party hopes will revive it.
”Nigerians have a history of religious tolerance that has served the
country so well. We urge our compatriots to continue along this path,
irrespective of the antics of a party that has finally drowned due to
its own internal failings and contradictions,” the
party said.
It called for a clean electioneering campaign that focuses on issues
that are relevant to the well-being of the long-suffering people of
Nigeria and issues that are edifying for the country, saying Nigerians
want to know, for example, how the present situation of hopelessly can
be turned around, how corruption can be stamped out; how a 24-hour
electricity supply will be achieved just like in most countries of the
world; how our teeming unemployed youths will be gainfully employed
and how our dilapidated infrastructure will be rebuilt.
”On our part, we are focused on issues that will lift the living
standard of Nigerians and make our country great again, and these we
have enunciated in our manifesto which is accessible on our website.
And once the green-light is given for electioneering campaign, we will
be ready to unveil our strategies for achieving the stated objectives.
”For now, we ask anyone who needs to be convinced of our capability
to visit any of the states under our control and see how we are
utilizing the scarce resources at our disposal for quality-of-life
initiatives that are serving the people well,” APC said
