The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Wednesday said the perpetual claims on the political future of the state by President Goodluck Jonathan smears of ignoramus et ignorabimus, and such unwitting claims should be brushed-off by Nigerians.
Jonathan had declared on Tuesday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would “recapture its stolen mandate” from the APC in Kwara State. He spoke at the State House Abuja, when PDP elders and political office holders from the North-Central state paid him a thank-you visit.
APC in a statement by its Interim Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, said the comment credited to Jonathan was an indication of his frustration and that of the PDP over the defection of some of its members to the opposition party.
Condemning the president’s remarks as “unpresidential”, APC said majority of Kwarans have dumped the PDP, which it described as a sinking party.
The APC said contrary to Jonathan’s assertion, there was no stolen mandate of PDP in the state, adding, “Kwarans are the beneficiaries of this mandate and their interests are assured in the APC”.
The statement read in part, “Mr. President is not God and shouldn’t be seen to be playing God. The signal given by Mr. President that Kwara State may be ‘recaptured’ before 2015 elections is questionable.
“Is there a sinister attempt to “recapture” power through the back- door by the Presidency and PDP before 2015? Will it be through a Presidency influenced judgment at the Supreme Court? Will it be through sponsored violence by the PDP and consequent declaration of State of Emergency in Kwara State? All these questions and many more demand answers. We condemn these sinister attempts and urge Mr. President to dissociate himself and his office from this evil plot.
“The ideology of the PDP has since changed to bad leadership and corruption. It is childish for PDP to think Kwarans will trade the peace and sustainable development presently enjoyed in the state for bad leadership, corrupt practices and mismanagement – the hallmark of PDP.
“Mr President is still in the euphoria of the paid non-Kwarans he addressed in Ilorin but it remains a mirage how a party without leadership and structure, with no councillor in any of the 193 wards, with no chairman in any of the 16 Local governments and just two (2) members out of 24 members in the House of Assembly, will win any election in Kwara State. Or is Mr President thinking of announcing election results from Abuja? This will certainly attract uprising from Kwarans and it should best remain in his imagination.
“However, these nocturnal politicians in the PDP can continue to deceive Mr President with their paper-weight in the state to bargain for money or positions, that is PDP’s headache but we state, the election-winning machinery has presently formulated in the APC today is capable of winning all elections in Kwara State if elections are held today”, the statement concluded.