Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, blamed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the recent increase in attacks by insurgents and the spate of insecurity in the country.
The PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the APC has resorted to baseless allegations against its leaders, including former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to divert attention from its failings.
It challenged the ruling party to respond to allegations that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration terminated the country’s counter-terrorism operations to satisfy foreign interests.
The opposition party noted that it was now obvious why terrorists, bandits and other criminal, who were pushed to the fringes under the last PDP-led Federal Government have become more emboldened in recent times.
“The APC should explain the assertion by international security expert, Eeben Barlow, who reportedly told the world that our nation was successfully routing insurgents in the Northeast before the APC and its administration terminated the counter-insurgency operation to satisfy an alleged American interest that assisted it to manipulate its way to power.
“It is instructive to note that the APC had engaged in unwarranted attack on the PDP and Atiku Abubakar as well as sponsoring negative divisive publications in the last few days in the bid to divert public attention from this very grave issue.
“Nigerians can now see why insurgents, marauders and bandits, who had been pushed to the fringes under the PDP administration suddenly resurged in renewed ravaging of communities and killing our compatriots unabated, while the APC and its administration engage in lip service and empty condolence messages.
“Nigerians are aware of how the APC imported political mercenaries, thugs and miscreants from neighboring countries including Niger Republic and used them to unleash violence on Nigerians during the 2019 Presidential elections.
“The APC has failed to account for these miscreants, most of who are now unleashing violence as kidnappers, armed robbers and marauders, pillaging our communities without restrain under the APC. It is important to observe that the APC had failed to apologize or join other well-meaning Nigerians in forcefully demanding for the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the mass killings in Benue, Borno, Plateau, Taraba, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, Adamawa, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Abia, Nasarawa, Niger and other parts of the country, under its watch.