The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the week end ridiculed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for conducting its national convention on Saturday in Abuja that degenerated into clashes between delegates from Imo and Delta states.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, decried that the convention was not free and fair but “a mockery of democracy and assault on the sensibility of Nigerians.”
The PDP also spotted that the APC Saturday National Convention in Abuja was marred by intimidation of aspirants for the various positions, essentially, the national chairman and national secretary, who were subtly coerced to step down for the anointed contenders in their clandestine Unity List which generated initial conflicts but was subsequently implemented in disguise despite being denied by the organizing committee. Over 7,000 delegates were in attendance at the convention, unfortunately, there was no voting for about 22 positions including the national chairman, national secretary, national legal adviser, national treasurer, among others.
Ologbondiyan declared in the statement: “The open intimidation and physical assault on aspirants and delegates to the convention further confirm the desperation by President Muhammadu Buhari’s camp to seize the APC’s presidential ticket, for which they have resorted to imposing pliable officials who had been handed the directives to muzzle other presidential aspirants in the APC ahead of the party’s Presidential primary.
“Delegates and other members of the APC were horrified when aspirants to various party offices were being threatened, harassed and in some cases, paid and handed written orders to mount the stage and announce their withdrawal.
“It is instructive to state that the APC convention directly reflects the confusion, intimidation, violations and descent to fascism, that have characterized governance in our nation in the last three years.”