Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of plotting a ‘grand scheme’ to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari is the sole presidential candidate on the ballot in the 2019 presidential election.
PDP said this while reacting to comments by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed that it should be deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on Sunday.
The Minister had called on INEC to withdraw the registration certificate of PDP because of the party’s alleged politicization of the abduction and release Dapchi school girls.
Lai said, “Indeed, there should be a new criterion for withdrawing the registration of a party like the PDP which has failed both as a ruling and an opposition party! If a party cannot rule and cannot be in opposition, what else can it do?’’
But in its response, PDP said the assertion by the minister was part of the plans by APC to ensure Buhari does not have an opponent in 2019 election.
“We want to alert all Nigerians of a clandestine plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government to strangulate the main opposition party and plot the way for the self-succession plan of their candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.”
“The main plank of the plot by the @APCNigeria is to ensure that President @MBuhari runs as a sole candidate in 2019. To achieve this grand plan, they must work to exterminate all known and perceived political opposition platforms in our country” the party expressed.
PDP also indicted APC for failing to constitute a BOT in line with the provisions of its own constitution thus maintaining that APC is not in the right position to demand any party be deregistered.
The major opposition party further claimed that Nigerians are tired of APC and would vote out the party to restore the nation to the path of unity, national cohesion, and economic prosperity in the 2019 general election.