ABUJA/Nigeria: The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the second time in a week, has reiterated its support for the restructuring of the country, saying it had always championed the devolution of powers among the federating units for years.
The party also berated the spokesperson of All Progressives Congress, APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, for the remark he reportedly made against the PDP.
In a statement signed by the Head, Publicity Division, Chinwe Nnorom, the PDP stated that the APC was only warming up to the idea of restructuring to swell its support base ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The statement read: “Nigerians will recall that in our statement, we were categorical that the leaders of the APC had denied promising restructuring at different times but suddenly jumped at it as the latest in a series of deceitful ploys designed and being implemented by the party to hoodwink Nigerians ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“We wish to emphasize that the APC’s response was another misadventure and inglorious efforts to further misinform Nigerians especially by just quoting a part of the sections of the PDP Constitution that was included in our statement – Preamble 2(b), which of course resonates with the PDP’s endeavour towards economic and socio-political growths; and he referred to it as our misunderstanding of the word – restructuring.
‘’Let Mr. Bolaji recall that we also quoted other sections such as Preamble 2(e) which states, “to devolve powers equitably between the Federal, State and Local Governments in the spirit of federalism”; and 7(2b) which states that, “The Party shall strive to promote federalism and an equitable revenue sharing formula” PDP Constitution (As Amended in 2012).
“In the light of the above, we make bold to state that Mr. Bolaji is clever by half. It is, therefore, important at this point to state that personalities like Bolaji Abdullahi’s disrespect to organization’s norms and ideology contributed largely to the delayed restructuring of the country since 1999, when he and most of his APC leaders where at the driving seat of the then ruling PDP.
‘’This character trait of lack of comprehension of ideas is equally being exhibited currently in the APC. After all, the party leaders bluntly denied promising Nigerians restructuring only to re-track when the Euphoria on restructuring refused to wane.
“That stated, the party clarified its position, saying that for Nigeria to move forward, powers must devolve from the centre to the federating components for the common good of all.
“For the umpteenth time, we wish to re-iterate that the PDP is not only interested in functional devolution and equitable distribution of powers among the federal, states and local government levels in the country but we are equally working hard with all our elected representatives across the country to restructure Nigeria for our common good.’’
