•Lai Mohammed
Yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan administration was accused by the All progressives Congress (APC) of sponsoring ethnic militias to foment trouble before, during and after the forthcoming general elections. As stated by the APC, N9 billion was recently paid out to some ex-militants and ethnic militias to mobilise them to scuttle the March 28 and Aprill 11 polls.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party stated the protests by MASSOB last week seeking the sack of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, was orchestrated by the administration as part of its continuing efforts to sabotage the elections.
The APC stated the next group that had been mobilised to protest against Jega and the use of Card Readers is the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), which is also a beneficiary of the N9 billion payout ostensibly of pipeline protection, but in reality to prepare the ethnic militias for their reprehensible role in scuttling the elections.
APC stated more ethnic militias are to be enlisted by the Jonathan administration to continue the protest against Jega and the Card Readers to give the impression that Nigerians want Jega sacked and also against the use of Card Readers.
The president may have done everything to divide the country along ethnic and religious lines, including patronising militias who serve no other purpose than to champion sectional interests at the expense of national unity, says the APC.
In a swift reaction, Director of Media and Publicity of Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PDPPCO), Femi Fani-Kayode, denied APC's claim saying the APC's criticism of the gesture was unfortunate.
“Once again, Lai Mohammed has lied. It is not true that the PDP or the Federal Government is sponsoring ethnic militias. It is also not true that N9 billion has been allocated for that purpose," Fani-Kayode stated.
"It is rather the APC that has consistently supported and sponsored Boko Haram both in substance and in their utterances over the last few years. This recourse to telling a lie everyday by the opposition party will not in any way assist them in achieving their objectives.
"We will remain focused on the issues. We will talk about their weaknesses and we will also talk about the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan on why it is that important that he is re-elected back into power on March 28. That is our focus.
"We have stated it before and we will say it again: these people have become prisoners of their own delusions; they have become victims of their own hallucinations and fantasies. They have become paranoid such that they are sleeping and hiding under their beds. They are running from their own shadows and what we are witnessing is simply the judgment of God on them. They have lost their peace. They are running when nobody is chasing them and that is why they are saying these things.
"It is really is a pity that it has degenerated to this point. But the fact is that no serious-minded persons will take them seriously when they talk like this."
On the APC's claim that the PDP and the Federal Government were trying to garner cheap political profit over the Immigration recruitment tragedy, Fani-Kayode said: "It is not the PDP that feeds off the blood of other individuals; it is not the PDP that is a party of ritualists and cultists; it is not the PDP that encourages and supports terrorist organizations that have slaughtered about 35,000 people over the last three years."