Atiku, PDP’s brand of opposition politics toxic, threatens democracy, FG alleges

The Federal Government alleged on Wednesday that the Peoples Democratic Party was playing a dangerous brand of opposition politics, which it warned could derail the country’s democracy if it was not urgently addressed.

It noted that the party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were “desperate” for power, as exemplified in what the government called “unpatriotic” utterances made by the two and actions they took lately.

Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, gave the government’s position in Abuja.

He spoke with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa Abuja, claiming that Abubakar and his party were doing everything possible to frustrate the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mohammed further alleged that before and after the 2019 general elections, the party and Abubakar had always overheated the polity with inflammatory utterances.

He spoke in detail, “The Federal Government has strongly decried the increasingly unpatriotic and desperate opposition politics being played by the PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, warning that such dead-end opposition could be toxic for the nation’s democracy if left unchecked.

“Never in the history of politics in Nigeria has an opposition party and its presidential candidate exhibited the kind of desperate tactics being deployed by the duo of the PDP and its flagbearer, especially since President Muhammadu Buhari overwhelmingly defeated Atiku to win the 2019 presidential election.

“Either by themselves or via their proxies, the PDP and its presidential candidate are doing everything possible to sabotage the Buhari administration, generally overheat the polity and make Nigeria seemingly ungovernable, especially through their public utterances and their poorly-thought-out press releases before and after the 2019 general elections. Unless they quickly retrace their steps, they may, sooner than later, over-reach themselves.

“For those who may be quick to accuse the government of crying wolf, the pre-election statement credited to the former Vice-President, that unless Nigerians voted out the APC administration, killings by herdsmen would continue and ultimately spark a series of ethno-religious crises that would be irreversible, was looking more like a Freudian slip than anything else.”