The Peoples Democratic Party yesterday said that the revelations by some Islamic clerics indicate that the All Progressives Congress plans to impose Islamic agenda on Nigeria.
The party therefore called on Nigerians to stand up and defend the unity of the nation and resist attempts by the opposition to destroy the nation’s common heritage as a people.
The PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said that an Islamic cleric, Ambassador Yusuf Garba and the Religious Equity Promotion Council REPC, had exposed the plot by the APC to balkanise Nigeria along religious lines. It alleged that the party is planning to impose an Islamic agenda like the Egypt Muslim Brotherhood.
“The PDP wishes to make it manifest to Nigerians to stand up and resist this evil machination by enemies of the nation. “This revelation, which came even from Muslims, goes to vindicate the PDP and confirm our earlier stand that the APC is a party of bloodthirsty, religious and ethnic bigots averse to the unity of the country and the peaceful co-existence of our people.”
PDP said the revelation explained that the reason the APC had been promoting violence, divisions and bloodletting, all aimed at making the people to lose faith in the Nigerian project and set the grounds for mayhem.
“Nigerians are now no longer at loss on the real reason the APC has been desperate to hold power. They now know why they have been moving round the country organising protests and investing heavily in planting seeds of discord and disagreements among the people using their stock-in-trade of propaganda, deceit, falsehood and doomsday prophesies.
“This revelation also explains why they have been arming thugs to disrupt electoral processes. “A case in point being the importation of hundreds of armed thugs to disrupt the Anambra governorship election last December. But for the police which arrested some of the thugs, the APC would have unleashed mayhem on the state and use it as a test for its larger plan in the 2015 general elections. “We are happy that Nigerians are no fools. Genuine Muslims know that Islam stands for peace.
Therefore, any attempt to use religion to divide the country must be resisted. We thank all Nigerians, especially true Muslims for exposing and rejecting the APC and its devilish plot. “Now that their plot has been exposed, we advise the APC to retrace their steps and purge themselves of their evil machinations.
“It is our unshakable creed that Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians irrespective of religious, tribal, ethnic or regional affiliations. This country belongs to Muslims, Christians and citizens of other religious persuasions alike and our people are free to live and work in any part of the country and aspire for any office irrespective of religious or ethnic affiliations.
“The PDP remains committed to the national unity as encapsulated in our manifesto and the ideals of our founding fathers and on that note will resist anything that seeks to balkanise our country and cause divisions among our people.
“The PDP is a party that is built on the principles of freedom, equality, justice and service. In this great party, considerations are not made based on religious, tribal or ethnic interests. Here, there are neither Christians nor Muslims; Hausas nor Yorubas; Fulanis nor Ijaws; Igalas nor Igbos and so on. The PDP remains a large family with enough room to accommodate all opinions and interests without compromising the national interest.”
