Photo: N’Assembly  Complex

By Chuks Okocha

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has described the directive of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to its members in the National Assembly to block all Executive Bills, including the 2014 Budget, as callous and unpatriotic.

Also, the APC directives to its members to stall the passage of the budget and screening of the nominated ministerial candidates have been described as a declaration of war on the Nigerian state.

Reacting to the APC directive at the weekend, the National Chairman of APGA, Victor Umeh, described it as insensitive on the part of APC in giving such a directive that will cripple economic activities in Nigeria, thereby dehumanising Nigerian citizens.

He stated that it was highly regrettable that the APC, which prides itself today as the main opposition party, has resorted to all acts that are capable of promoting anarchy and instability in all facets in a country it is hoping to govern.

“We had in the past  alerted Nigerians about the undemocratic credentials of APC, as the party is a conglomerate of odd characters and undemocratic elements, as well as former coup plotters who over-threw democratically elected governments in Nigeria,” Umeh asserted; adding that APC therefore cannot be expected to have respect for democracy.

The APGA National Chairman observed that the burning crisis in Rivers State which the APC hinged its directive on, and indeed in other parts of the country, were all instigated by the APC. According to Umeh, the people of Rivers State never at any time in the history of the State, voted for ACN or the CPC or the ANPP, which came together to form the APC.

“The present annexure of Rivers State by the APC is a usurpation of the mandate of the people of Rivers State to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last General Election. The crisis in the State can also be traced to the resistance of the people of the state to the strange direction of their affairs by a political party that they did not give their mandate to”, Umeh stated.

Furthermore, he said the APC has used a tactic of brainwashing and inciting people who were never elected through their platform, to defect to their fold. He pointed out that similar flash points and crisis could be found in Imo, Adamawa, Kano, Kwara and Sokoto States, “where the elements in the present APC never won any election, but have their governments taken over by the APC, in clear breach of the constitution. APC is a party that is desperate to reap where it did not sow.”

Umeh further directed APGA’s National Assembly members to lend full support to all Executive Bills from Mr. President, which are designed to promote good governance of the country and also to completely stay away from anything associated with the APC in both chambers.

The statement by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Tonye Princewill, said “it is obvious that if this order is carried out, Nigeria’s economy and developmental strides will take a nosedive.

Princewill, a PDP stalwart in Rivers State, has also joined in condemning the APC statement calling it “unpatriotic act”.

“Has dialogue been exhausted, is Rivers’ case not a case of APC looking for a fight when nobody is listening? What about the deaths in the South West APC, has it really come to this?,” he said, adding, “No man, woman or group of people has the right to threaten the stability of Nigeria.


Source: This Day