We don't suppress opposition like PDP - APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it did not inherit the “undemocratic practice” of suppressing opposition from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s national publicity secretary, said this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.

He said the federal government was doing its best to effect change in the polity but admitted it had been the most difficult assignment to tackle.

Abdullahi said the APC was increasingly baffled by PDP’s “new found proclivity for constantly spewing falsehood in the name of opposition rhetoric and politics”.

He recalled that a recent statement by the PDP spokesperson had accused the APC of corruption, sectionalism and opposition clampdown, among other things, in the build-up to 2019 elections.

“While it is a widely known fact that suppressing the opposition was the stock in trade of the PDP during its defunct 16-year rule, the APC has definitely not inherited this undemocratic practice in its governance style,” he said.

According to him, the PDP, while in government, illegally and routinely used state apparatus to harass opposition figures.

He said such could be seen in the attack on APC data centre in Lagos, blockade of the air and road routes to prevent movement of then opposition leaders ahead of the 2015 elections, among other clampdowns.

He added that it was unfortunate that the PDP was quick to forget the divisive, insensitive and sectional politics it played during the 2015 electioneering campaign.

“The PDP without an iota of proof, rather spewing laughable conspiracies, accuses the APC-led administration of barefaced looting,” he said.

“Elections are around the corner and Nigerians are not gullible. They see through the PDP’s diversionary antics aimed at deflecting attention from the wanton culture of impunity and corruption it instituted when it held sway.”

The party spokesman said there is a gradual acceptance that the era of impunity is beginning to disappear from national life.

He said Nigerians are wiser now “with sharp memories”.