2019 Poll :Hold APC Responsible Should Harm Befall Atiku, Others – PDP

2019 Poll :Hold APC responsible should harm befall Atiku, others – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  has said that the APC should be held responsible should any harm befall former Vice President Abubakar Atiku or any of its Presidential aspirants ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The National Publicity secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement on Saturday  said that the PDP’s position was predicated on its comprehensive consideration of all issues relating to the threats to the life of the former Vice President, as well as similar threats and harassments of other presidential aspirants.

Atiku had claimed in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, that he had received text messages, warning him to drop his presidential ambition.

He described how wife and daughters were also warned, adding that the author of the text message threatened to either kill or rape them.

Ologbondiyan said,  “The PDP does not take these threats as a ruse and we demand an open inquest into all the issues raised by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in his petition to President Buhari.

“It is public knowledge that the APC has been in a frenetic mode over the calibre and popularity of presidential aspirants arraying in our party platform.

“The APC knows that President Buhari is no match for any of our aspirants hence the resort to violence, harassment and death threats, with a view to frighten and put our presidential aspirants out of circulation ahead of the 2019 elections.

“Nigerians are already aware of how the APC-led Government has been using security and anti-corruption agencies, particularly the Police, Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to harass and hound presidential hopefuls and perceived political opponents of the President, as well as the members of our party on various trumped-up allegations and charges.

“The dysfunctional APC has become distraught by the resurge of Nigerians to our platform since the commencement of electioneering activities, while the APC national secretariat and its state offices have become deserted like graveyards.”

He said that rather than accepting the reality of their alleged failures ahead of the 2019 elections, he said that the APC has scaled up its proclivities for violence against the opposition.