PDP faults Buhari over comments

Peoples Democratic Party has asked a former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),  to stop inciting Nigerians against the government.

The party stated this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, on Sunday.

According to the PDP,   political differences notwithstanding, it expects  Buhari  to acknowledge the  progress the country had made in internalising democratic culture since the return of democracy in 1999.

The party was reacting to comments by Buhari  while on a visit to Kano last week.

The Congress for Progressive Change’s presidential candidate for the 2011 general elections had said the ruling PDP  had breached the 1999 Constitution on many occasions.

But the PDP said it was shocked by  such comments.

The statement read in part,  “We shudder that a former Head of State under whose watch freedom of expression landed many Nigerians in detention on account of his obnoxious decrees, and who now enjoys such freedom, is utterly ungrateful to the efforts of our great party in advancing the cause of democracy.

“If the CPC leadership does not understand what the rule of law is, let’s oblige them with little details.

“And for General Buhari, the evangelist of Rule of law, Nigerians wish to know  if unlawful incitement of the populace to violence and attack on the institutions of democracy is part of the rule of law.”

It added that criticisms from  the opposition would  not make the  government to deny Nigerians their  inalienable rights.

The statement said, “The PDP loses elections and winners are sworn in;  we do not use our incumbency at the centre to stop  the democratic wishes of the people.”

This, it said, was not so with the  opposition parties, which it alleged  was in the habit of rigging local government  elections in their states.

It cited Lagos and Ogun states as examples where such incidents had happened.

It said because the Federal Government had nothing to hide, it  enacted the Freedom of Information Act so that Nigerians would  not be in the dark as to how the nation was being run.

The PDP advised  Buhari to concentrate on giving Nigerians alternative ideas and plan of action to what the party  had at present or even engage it in a public debate on the values of good governance.

It reminded Buhari of what Nigerians  went through under his regime.

“There is no doubt that even the blind can distinguish between the daylight it is today and the deep dark night it was hitherto,” it added.