The All Progressives Congress has
strongly warned the PDP not to to go ahead with its diabolical plan to
declare vacant the seats of the five PDP Governors who recently defected
to the APC, saying apart from being illegal and smacking of double
standard, such a move has the potential to plunge the polity into chaos.
In a statement issued on Thursday in
Abuja by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
the party said that even as the PDP has continued to lick the mortal
wound inflicted on it by the loss of five preeminent Governors in one
fell swoop, any attempt by the party (PDP) to act in desperation and
declare the Governors’ seats vacant will be met with an unprecedented
show of people power that will end, once and for all, the impunity of
the PDP and the Presidency.
”We have irrefutable evidence that the
PDP is desperately shopping for a pliant Judge who will be heavily
induced to declare vacant the seats of the five Governors who recently
defected to the APC. We also have the name of the lawyers who have been
retained by the PDP for this hatchet job.
”We are in possession of the various
nefarious legal options being explored by the villainous duo of the PDP
and the Presidency but we hereby serve a strong notice to the duo that
any attempt by anyone through any means other than what is provided for
in section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended will not only have
grave consequences but will leave the polity severely bruised.
”We know the PDP and the Presidency are
anarchic and nihilistic, and will not mind to pursue any narrow and
selfish objective, even if doing such can plunge the nation into crisis.
But their cup is gradually getting full. Having got away with their
trademark impunity in Delta and Anambra States, these lawless, reckless
and feckless duo of maleficence now believe they can continue to act
without regards to the laws of the land and with no scintilla of
decency.
”We wish to state unequivocally that
should the PDP go ahead with this plan, there will be widespread
repercussions as the APC has resolved that henceforth, every act of
impunity of the PDP and the
Presidency will be met with stiff
resistance in the form of a vociferous telegraphing of people power, the
likes of which have not been witnessed in these parts,” it said.
APC reminded the PDP and the Presidency
that a party that boasts of 16 Governors….still counting…and has control
of the National Assembly has what it takes to use people power to stop
acts of impunity, disregard for the laws of the land and barbaric
brigandage – and that is exactly what the APC will do in
the event of any unlawful declaration of the five Governors’ seats vacant.
The party also warned against any
attempt by the PDP and the Presidency to turn back the hands of the
clock as far as the cleaning up of the judiciary is concerned, by
inducing a servile and disreputable Judge to do the duo’s bidding.
”We recognize the efforts of the present
CJN to sanitize the Judiciary since she assumed the mantle of
leadership but she should not allow any black leg to reverse the gains
that have been recorded on the altar of unmitigated avarice. This is
because if that happens, Nigerians will hold the Judiciary vicariously
liable for the catastrophic consequences that may follow,” it said.
Accusing the PDP of engaging in double
standard, APC said ”For all of 14 years, elected members of the State
Houses of Assembly as well as the National Assembly have been defecting
mostly to the PDP and nocourt has ever declared their seats vacant.
”Late Senator Wahab Dosunmu and Senator
Adeseye Ogunlewe, then of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), blazed the
trail when they decamped to the PDP within a year of their election.
Since then scores of elected lawmakers at state and federal levels have
defected to the PDP without any eyebrows being raised or anyone
declaring their seats vacant.
”When Governors Ikedi Ohakim of Imo
State and Theodore Orji of Abia state, both elected on the platform of
the PPA, and Governor Isah Yuguda of Bauchi state, who was elected on
the platform of the ANPP, defected to the PDP, nobody declared their
seats vacant.
”As a matter of fact, the PDP under
late President Umar Yar’Adua organized an elaborate reception to welcome
Gov. Yuguda to the PDP. Why then should the case of the five PDP
Governors (still counting)who have joined the APC be different? Why is
the PDP suddenly afraid of taking the same medicine it has been
administering to others? Does it mean that all the bravado that has been
displayed by the PDP, which says it is not bothered by the defection of
the five Governors, is just a facade to hide its deep pain at the
monumental loss?” the party queried.
It also asked the PDP and the
Presidency, if they can allow a rare moment of introspection, to go and
read – and be guided by – the ruling of the Supreme Court after the PDP
attempted to make then Vice President Atiku Abubakar to lose his seat
and to also strip him of his privileges following his defection to the
ACN.
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