PDP condemns service chiefs’ participation in campaigns

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned “attempts by President Muhammadu Buhari to politicise and compromise our military by dragging in service chiefs to participate in his re-election rally.”

The party, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the development as completely unacceptable, adding that it sends a very wrong signal to the public on the professionalism, neutrality and detachment of the institution from partisan politics.

The PDP said it knew that “President Buhari, in the desperation to rig and foist himself on the nation in the 2019 election, will stop at nothing in his attempt to compromise and desecrate our institutions, but doing so on the military is a clear invitation to crisis and derailment of our democracy.”

It urged the military high command to insulate its personnel and formations from “political manipulation.”

However, the main opposition party said “the resounding public endorsements that heralded the policy document of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is a confirmation that the noble document embodies the collective mindset, yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians in their quest for a new leadership and a better life in our country.”

Ologbondiyan, in another statement, said the “negative reactions to Buhari’s Next Level mantra is an indication that the document is dead on arrival, as Nigeria cannot afford the reinforcement of failure, especially as the electorate have already seen through the deception and cheap attempt to beguile them again ahead of the elections.”

Meanwhile, the Atiku-Agbaje Media Engagement Network (AAMEN) has urged the former vice president to reconsider his plan to sell the nation’s Nigeria’s 90 per cent equity in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) if elected into office next year.

In a statement, its Executive Secretary, Mr. Felix Oboagwina, said the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua won accolades for reversing the privatisation of the nation’s four refineries.

The development, according to the group, demonstrated that Nigerians wanted government’s vigorous involvement in the running of the corporation.

He said: “We hope Atiku was misquoted on this highly sensitive proposal. The groundswell of opinions so far collated on this matter wants Atiku to think outside the box for solutions to the obvious ineptitude and corruption bedevilling the corporation.”