People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of insensitivity to the plight of citizens.
Atiku, in a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, berated the APC for holding a dinner with its presidential aspirants on Sunday, when the country was mourning the victims of the Owo Catholic Church killing.
According to him, “it is disconcerting that on the very day when the whole of the country and the rest of the world were in a sober mood, on account of the massacre in Owo, Ondo State, the APC could not find the moral rectitude to cancel a dinner with its presidential aspirants, slated for the evening of Sunday, June 5.
“Needless to say, the so-called primary is standing on the backdrop of the reported claim of President Muhammadu Buhari to be allowed to handpick his successor.
“With the blood of innocent worshippers flowing on the streets of the Sunshine State, leaders of the APC are gathered in Abuja, treating themselves to sumptuous dinners in a manner that suggests a lack of empathy for the mood of the nation.”
The former vice president added that, however, if the charade that the APC calls a presidential convention primary is merely to handpick an anointed candidate, it is important to ask the managers of the ruling party why they elected to slate the so-called convention for a working day, thereby disrupting economic activities around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“Even as delegates in the so-called election entered into the FCT, they must have been greeted with long queues of vehicles waiting to buy automobile fuel and darkness that continues to grip the capital city on account of seizures in electricity supply.
“Should the APC delegates ask themselves what they have been brought to Abuja for, they should know that the primary of their party is not about any of the individuals vying for the presidential ticket of their party but a referendum on the APC’s scorecard in the past seven years.
“Should the delegates be honest with themselves about the current state of affairs in the country under the watch of their party, they ought to know that allowing the APC to remain in power one more day after May 29 next year is an unpatriotic decision to make.
“For residents of the FCT, who have been inundated with everyday stress as a result of bad governance by the ruling party, the choice of crucial working days—Monday and Tuesday—as days for the primary of the APC is a callous and insensitive decision.”
