The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the comment by Chief Edwin
Clark, that if the opposition has its way it can poison or kill
President Goodluck Jonathan just to take power, is absurd, incendiary
and unbecoming of an elder statesman of the Chief's stature.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Chief Clark's comment,
which was widely reported by newspapers, is the latest in a string of
statements by President Jonathan's supporters that are overheating the
polity ahead of the 2015 general elections and are even threatening the
peace and unity of the country.
''We have waited for several days to give Chief Clark the opportunity to
deny making such a fallacious statement, but he has not done so, which
means he was not misquoted and that he indeed meant what he said.
''It is time for the President himself to call his supporters to order
for the sake of the peace and unity of our dear nation. They have been
threatening fire and brimstone if the President is not re-elected in
2015, as if elections are won by threats. One has even gone as far as
saying there will blood on the streets if the President is not
re-elected,'' it said.
APC said in making his dangerous comment, Chief Clark probably mistook
the party for the PDP, which has been described as the nest of killers.
''Our party has never and will never contemplate killing or poisoning
President Jonathan just to take power, as Chief Clark carelessly said.
We are neither a violent nor an anarchic party. We do not seek power by
any means other than through the ballot box. Therefore we reject,
totally, the statement by Chief Clark.
''We remind Chief Clark that since President Jonathan was voted into
office by Nigerians, they also reserve the right to vote him out of
office. This is the way it is done in every true democracy, and heavens
will not fall if President Jonathan is not re-elected in 2015. His
supporters should put their emotions in check and stop making comments
that are downright treasonable,'' the party said.
It said it is a mark of the gross partisanship of the security agencies
that they have turned a blind eye to all the incendiary comments being
made by the President's men.
''The security agencies, especially the police and the DSS, have busied
themselves with harassing and intimidating the opposition. They have
engaged in torturing innocent Nigerians for political reasons, while
pretending not to know that President Jonathan's supporters, in
particular Mujaheed Asari Dokubo and Chief Clark, have been threatening
the very existence of Nigeria through their capricious statements.
''Had the statements credited to these men been made by the opposition,
the security agencies would have suddenly become hyperactive. They have
failed to make the President's supporters to realize that no one is
above the law,'' APC said.
culled from nigerianbulletin
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