NAN – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised APC leadership to consider looking inwards, if they believe the Wednesday, July 23, 2014 bomb attack on retired Gen. Mohammed Buhari was an assassination attempt.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh, gave the advice in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
However, the spokesman noted that the attack affected Buhari’s convoy.
The statement described as laughable attempts by APC leaders to use the bomb attacks to absolve itself of blames of encouraging insurgency in the country.
It further described earlier statements by the APC and its governors “as failed attempts at image laundering’’.
“Indeed, they have failed in this laughable and condemnable attempt to launder their horrible image”, the statement quoted the PDP spokesman as saying.
It added that APC’s true identity “ as a party supportive of violence and disunity in the country is already well known to all’’.
“Nigerians will recall that when the news of the attack broke out, the PDP took the high moral ground of condemning the development and sympathised with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
“We also called for a thorough investigation to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
“We are therefore disappointed and disgusted that the APC leaders chose to use the ugly development to embark on image laundering,’’ the statement said.
It added that APC`s hasty attempts to indict the Presidency and the PDP while exonerating itself had raised issues regarding what really happened.
This, it added, was especially so now that a suspect connected to the bombing had been arrested.
The statement wondered if the attack was a set-up aimed at scoring some political points.
It added that if it was indeed an assassination attempt, it may have been engineered by internal frictions and crisis of ambition within the APC.
It alleged that it may have to do with some other presidential aspirants in the APC who see Buhari as a threat and obstacle to their ambitions.
“Or could it be APC’s desperate strategy of trying to disentangle itself from the internationally acknowledged link with terrorists and possibly undermine the planned probe of their involvement by the United Kingdom.’’
It held that these questions had become pertinent considering the fact that Buhari pose no threat whatsoever to any candidate the PDP might project for 2015 elections.
It stressed that Buhari lost three times to the PDP in presidential elections in the past and would lose the fourth time if he emerged as APC candidate in 2015.
The statement maintained that the APC cannot in anyway exonerate itself from the insurgency ravaging the country.
According to it, the APC had been promoting insurgency through the utterances and actions of its leaders, thinking that the insurgents were after President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP.
It noted that if APC leaders had joined well-meaning Nigerians in condemning acts of terrorism earlier, those behind it would not have been bold enough to get it to the current alarming level.
The statement reaffirmed PDP`s commitment to peace and the welfare of Nigerians, adding that Jonathan remained a peace-loving, godly and humble man.
It held that Jonathan as PDP leader had continued to reiterate that no political ambition was worth shedding of blood.
