The president, while on a visit to Yobe state on Wednesday, had claimed that unlike the previous government handling of Chibok girls abduction in 2014, his government acted promptly in the case of abduction of Dapchi school girls.
But in a reaction to the claim, the PDP, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Thursday, expressed shock that President Buhari could do so right before our grief-stricken parents.
The PDP said the President’s morbid comparison of the Dapchi incident to the similar heartrending abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno state, in 2014, appeared pregnant with meaning, especially in the face of pervading speculations and conspiracy theorems that trailed the Dapchi abduction and its associated conflicting reports.
It said the comments by the President as well as his aloofness to the people in the troubled states, so far visited, have all confirmed that the belated visits were mere afterthoughts orchestrated for political reasons and not out of any genuine concern for the victims.
The party also noted that more disheartening was the attempts by the President to politicize killings in troubled states and particularly the abduction of our innocent Dapchi daughters, right in the presence of their distraught parents.
According to the opposition party, when the President went to Taraba, he made a morbid comparison of more people being killed in one state than the other, as if human life is valued in figures.
“This time, he went on an ill-conceived political ego venture and self-praise with the abduction of our Dapchi daughters,” it stated.
The statement added: “The PDP agrees no less with Nigerians that this development is worrisome. This is particularly so given the sequence of events that trailed the incident.
“Nigerians can recall how the Presidency deployed a team of officials led by the minister of information and culture to Yobe state, ostensibly for a media stunt. What followed was the release of a false rescue report by yet to be ascertained individuals or agency and statements by sponsored groups praising the Presidency for illusionary ‘swift rescue operations’ while the abductors were fleeing deeper into unknown recesses.
“Nigerians need to know; is there a heinous script in which our innocent daughters in Dapchi have become pawns? Who is behind the initial false rescue report and what point was it meant to serve? Was it designed to promote a political stunt? Moreover, why has the Presidency not taken critical steps to unravel the mystery behind the report and those who scripted it?
“These are some of the reasons we urged the National Assembly to institute an independent inquest into the Dapchi abduction and make its findings public.
“Furthermore, we still wonder why the parents of the Dapchi girls were not allowed enough opportunity to have direct interaction with the President during the visit to Yobe State.
“Was it to bar them from taking the President to task on issues surrounding the abduction, including the alleged removal of troops before the attack as well as speculations and allegations of conspiracy theorems which have been promoted by conflicting reports and disagreements among government agencies and officials on the ugly incident?
“The PDP holds that issues of security and well-being of our people must not be reduced to political drama for any reason and under any guise whatsoever. Such is completely evil, iniquitous and unpardonable.”
The party, therefore, charged the President to stop every action in this direction as such was portraying the nation as inhumane, callous and coldhearted.
It similarly charged the Presidency and the APC to “understand that profane gimmicks cannot help their doomed re-election bid as Nigerians have seen through their lies and propaganda and are now rallying with the repositioned platform of the PDP to rescue our dear nation from the painful misrule of the APC.”
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