The Peoples Democratic Party and the Presidency on Sunday engaged in a war of words over Friday’s invasion of the Akwa-Ibom State Government House by the operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS.
While the PDP accused the Presidency of being behind the invasion, the Presidency asked Nigerians to ignore the “defeated political party”, saying it has yet to recover from its loss at the polls.
The PDP said it would no longer stomach the continued and unlawful use of state apparatus by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to harass its elected officials at all levels across the country.
The party said the APC-led government had crossed the line in unleashing the DSS, now under the leadership of Lawal Daura, on the Akwa-Ibom State Government House, Uyo, in violation of the “constitutional immunity of the government house.”
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, noted that the invasion was a clear recipe for what he described as a constitutional crisis, civil unrest and avoidable anarchy in the land.
He called on Nigerians and the international community “to take copious note of the act”.
Metuh said the PDP’s investigations had shown that the DSS acted on the express orders of the APC’s Presidency, which he said had been in a desperate bid to destabilise and forcefully take over Akwa-Ibom and other PDP states.
He said, “We have information that the DSS, acting on the instructions of the Presidency, occupied the Akwa-Ibom State Government House, ransacking guest houses for no just cause.
“If such terror can be unleashed on a state government, one can only imagine the fate of regular citizens in the hands of this administration that has continued to show unparalleled disdain for constitutional order, with heinous penchant for oppression.
“We have also been made aware of plans by the APC government to stage similar invasions and unlawful assaults on other PDP states, including Rivers, Delta, Abia and Taraba, where electoral officers are already being hounded and harassed by the DSS, who are also directly interfering in the activities of the election tribunals, in furtherance of the APC’s desperation to take over these states.
Metuh added that he could recall a similar action in July, when he alleged that the police sealed local councils in Rivers State and barred caretaker committee members lawfully appointed by the state government from taking charge of the councils.
While restating that the PDP lost a general election and not a war, he said that states under the control of his party should not be seen as occupied territories but part of the Nigerian nation.
He said citizens of such states were not prisoners of war, but free citizens in a democratic state.
“We invite Nigerians and the international community to note that never in the history of our democracy have we witnessed such a divisive government, whose actions and constitutional violations have so polarised the polity along its fault lines, while undermining national unity and cohesion, a development that spells doom for our democracy, if left unchecked.
“Finally, we wish to state categorically that as citizens of this country, we can no longer continue to stomach such brazen attacks on our members and elected officials.
“The PDP will therefore hold several leadership and stakeholders’ meetings to come up with its response to this bare-faced assault on our democracy. Enough is enough!”
But the Presidency, in its reaction, said that the PDP did not know what it was saying.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said in a text message on Sunday that the PDP had yet to recover from the beating it received from Nigerians during the last elections.
He said, “The PDP has got to a level of paranoia. While we ignore their rantings, we also sympathise with them because they are still reeling from the bloody nose Nigerians gave them at the polls.
“It takes a long time to recover from such a buffeting, and that is why they imagine vain things.”
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