Don’t Drag Us into Your Internal Squabbles, Katsina APC Warns PDP

Francis Sardauna in Katsina 

The Katsina State All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council has warned the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against dragging it into its internal squabbles. 

The Campaign Council gave the warning in a press statement issued to journalists by its Director, Media and Publicity, Ahmed Abdulkadir, on Friday in Katsina.

PDP had in a press statement by its campaign media committee chairman, Kabir Yusuf-Yar’Adua, accused the APC of authoring and peddling a fake press release alleging that its guber candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado, had withdrawn from the governorship race.

However, the APC campaign council, in the statement, described the PDP press statement as a glib and unsubstantiated claim that could only be said to be the figment of the party’s imagination.

The campaign council explained that rather than being fixated with the APC, the PDP should harness its energy and confront what it referred to as the many domestic demons and parasites sucking the party dry from the inside. 

Describing the content of the PDP press statement as gibberish, the APC campaign council claimed that blackmail was the only option left for the PDP in redeeming the ‘poor political image’ of its candidate and the ‘hopelessness’ of its ambition to wrestle power from the ruling party.

It said it was disrespectful for the PDP to point accusing fingers at APC each time it was forced to fight the many “domestic battles that could be said to be landmarks on the rough road it followed to arrive where it is today”.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the Katsina State APC Campaign Council has been drawn to a rather unimaginative press release by the opposition party, PDP, in which APC was dragged into what’s clearly one of the many domestic problems the PDP is facing at the moment. 

“The press release claimed that it was the APC that released a fake press release announcing the withdrawal of the PDP Katsina State gubernatorial candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado Ɗanmarke, from the race. 

“As is PDP’s stock in trade, this is a glib and unsubstantiated claim that can only be said to be the figment of its imagination. Ordinarily, we would not have bothered to respond to the gibberish in the press release but for the need to clear the air, which seems to be PDP’s only remaining option of redeeming the poor political image of its candidate and the hopelessness of its ambition to wrestle power out of the hands of the APC. 

“Already, with elders of the party in court trying to resolve the questionable disbursement of election funds to the tune of N1.050bn, PDP should concentrate on cleaning its house instead of throwing dirt at the APC. 

“It’s not for the APC to confirm or deny the authenticity of the document, making PDP jittery. That’s PDP’s problem to deal with. However, much as PDP’s insinuations are indicative of the paranoia ruling its affairs, it’s advisable, instead of casting aspersions on the APC, that it should focus on dealing with its problems in a more civilised manner than wasting time chasing shadows.”

The party, however, warned that it would not fold its arms and watch the PDP dragging its name in the mud with its usual sweeping, unsubstantiated and defamatory claims.