PDP fingers APC over attack on Jonathan in Katsina

The Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) has condemned Tuesday’s attack on President Goodluck Jonathan’s convoy in Kat­sina.

According to media reports, irate youths had pelted the President’s con­voy with stones while Pres­ident Jonathan was leaving the residence of the aged mother of his late prede­cessor in office, Umaru Yar’Adua.

National Publicity Scribe of the ruling party, Olisa Metuh, in a state­ment yesterday claimed that supporters of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, General Mu­hammadu Buhari were responsible for the attack, which he noted was “a clear indication that the APC is not ready to dial back on its rabid desire to attain power through violence despite signing a peace pact a week ago in Abuja.”
The party further warned in the statement that it would “no longer tolerate such acts of violence on any of its members.
“This brazen attack on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and our presidential candidate clearly shows that the APC was never committed to the spirit and letters of the Abuja peace accord, which they signed in the presence of prominent Nigerians and international personalities.
“It is unfortunate that while the PDP and other parties are busy ensuring that their members and supporters remain commit­ted to a peaceful election­eering, the APC has been hatching plots to unleash violence on our candidates and members.”
The ruling party called on eminent Nigerians to rise in condemnation of what it called a dangerous phenomenon.
“ These early develop­ments clearly demonstrate that the comments and dec­larations by the leaders of the APC that Nigeria would be thrown into chaos and bloodshed should it lose the February general elec­tions were real.
“We commend the ma­turity and the ever peace­ful disposition of President Jonathan and the leaders of the PDP even in the face of this unwarranted attacks,” the statement said.
According to the PDP, “the irony which we wish to place on record is that the APC, which has suc­cessfully completed its campaigns in the South South, including Bayelsa, the home state of President Jonathan without any inci­dent and has even signed a pact to maintain peace, is turning round to unleash thugs to disrupt the presi­dential campaign of our great party.