APC is looting public treasury to buy votes in 2019 —PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of massive looting of the public treasury with a plan to buy Nigerians and their votes ahead of the 2019 general election.

PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbodiyan, made the accusation in a telephone interview with the Saturday Tribune, on Friday and also alleged that the ruling party had resorted to propaganda ahead the elections.

He, however, disclosed that the main opposition party would, tomorrow, kick off its campaign for the 2019 elections, adding that it would be issue-based while the 2019 elections would also be a referendum on the three and half years of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“We are starting our campaigns on Sunday (tomorrow). We are challenging the three and half years of the administration. APC has resorted to vote buying and they are the ones who need money. That is why they are using propaganda.

“But the peoples will is most important. Didn’t PDP spend money in 2015? Nigerians have resolved to vote out Buhari. They will take Buhari out of Aso Rock in 2019 and replace him with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“You think Nigerians are asking for money to save themselves and their future? This election is not about the PDP. It is about the survival of every Nigerian. The APC are the ones looting the treasury to buy Nigerians and their votes. But Nigerians will show them in 2019,” he said.

Earlier in a statement, the PDP dared President Buhari to demonstrate his integrity by demanding for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, over his negative comments on the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The party, in the statement signed by Ologbodiyan, also accused Amaechi, who doubles as the Director General of the President Muhammadu Campaign Organisation, of using government funds to campaign for the re-election of the president.

It noted that the alleged action of the transportation minister was a demonstration of the height of corruption in the Buhari administration and wondered why the minister would be comparing the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who it said has general acceptance among Nigerians, with Buhari.

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“If Amaechi has not lost touch with reality, how would he be comparing Atiku Abubakar, who is widely celebrated by Nigerians across board, due to his integrity and proven competence, to a failed President Buhari who Nigerians know is responsible for the grinding hardship, hunger, starvation and escalating insecurity in the nation in the last three and half years?

“How can anyone compare Atiku Abubakar, an epitome of wealth-creation and youth empowerment, to President Buhari whose tenure will only be remembered by Nigerians for hardship, unemployment, job losses, wealth destruction, economic frustrations and destruction of institutions that engender good governance and freedom?

Is it not an aberration to attempt to compare Atiku Abubakar, who played key role in a government that paid our nation’s foreign debt, to President Buhari, whose administration specialises in accumulating debts, borrowing money to service debts and plunging our generations yet unborn into bondage?

“How can Amaechi compare Atiku Abubakar, a promoter of democracy and fundamental human rights, to President Buhari, whose administration has stood down all known democratic virtues and relishes in violation of human rights, disobedience to court orders, disdain for constitutional order and condoning extra-judicial killings, harassment and illegal detention of citizens, as detailed in reports by international bodies?

“While it is a settled fact that President Buhari cannot be a match to Atiku Abubakar, we understand Amaechi’s frustration as a beleaguered salesman of a derelict product, but he should have known that, for Nigerians, Atiku Abubakar represents light and a brighter future, whereas President Buhari and his APC represent a national misfortune,” Ologbodiyan said in the statement.

He further said Amaechi was aware of the murmurings and frustrations even in the presidency regarding an alleged failure of the Buhari administration in governance, adding that most of his ministers, aides and political associates no longer believe in his re-election following the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate.