Press Statement
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) charges the Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to apologize to Nigerians for
misleading the nation and heating up the polity with unfounded security
breach allegations against the PDP and our Presidential candidate, Atiku
Abubakar.
The party says that with the assurances on Monday, that the nation was
safe for the Presidential inauguration, Alhaji Mohammed has further
exposed the fact that he, acting for the Federal Government, only
conjured claims to create the impression that the PDP and Atiku Abubakar
had set security breaches against the Presidential inauguration.
Allegations that have vanished like what they are – phantoms!
It is indeed lamentable that in its desperation to secure acceptance
from Nigerians and confer legitimacy to the outcome of a rigged
election, the Buhari administration would manufacture and purvey fake
news to the public, only for Nigerians to learn from the same Minister
of Information and Culture, that his earlier claims against the PDP and
our Presidential candidate were not based on any concrete evidence but,
according to him, on having “no reasons to doubt” claims by other
individuals.
Moreover, the minister’s claims that he relied on certain alarms fell
flat as no agency in the country had ever accused the PDP, as a
political party, or our Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of
“doing everything possible to sabotage the Buhari Administration,
generally overheat the polity and make Nigeria seemingly ungovernable”
as claimed by Lai Mohammed.
It is now clear that the whole essence of the misleading allegation was
to heat up the system, attempt to cow democratic voices, divert public
discourse from the rigging of the Presidential election and scare the
PDP and our Presidential candidate from pursuing our stolen Presidential
mandate at the court.
We also have fears that Alhaji Lai Mohammed could have made those wild
claims in a bid to pave the way to frame, harass, arrest and detain some
opposition figures on trump-up charges.
Such antics have failed as Nigerians have seen through them and are
resolute, behind Atiku Abubakar, in the determination to retrieve his
mandate in the court, and no form of blackmail and intimidation will
detract from that resolve.
By his fabricated claims, the Information Minister only succeeded in
further demarketing our dear nation in the international arena, causing
more damage to investors’ confidence in our system and exposing this
administration as purveyor of fake news.
The PDP therefore invites Alhaji Lai Mohammed to apologize to the nation
and desist from such acts of incitement.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
