APC crisis exaggerated –Lai Mohammed

Interim National Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress, Lai Mohammed

Culled from The Punch

The All Progressives Congress has said that the crisis within its ranks is only being exaggerated by those who are afraid of the wide acceptance it has received within a short time across the country.

Interim Publicity Secretary of the party,  Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who addressed journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, also condemned the disruption of a peaceful rally by Save Rivers Movement in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

He also rejected the tagging of his party as an Islamic party even as he maintained that the crisis within it was merely a storm in a tea cup.

He said, “This is nothing but a storm in a tea cup. It is exaggerated by those who cannot understand the runaway acceptability of the party in such a short time.

“The so-called crisis is nothing beyond the ability of our leadership to resolve, and we are doing just that. Nigerians should ignore those who are trying to orchestrate a crisis where there is none.”

Mohammed also described the self-appraisal of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as being exaggerated, saying the President’s aides had only been reeling out figures to hoodwink Nigerians.

He said, “It is common knowledge, even to those within the PDP, that this administration ranks very low in terms of performance. Yet, the President and his men (and women) have been trying to hoodwink Nigerians with figures that have no bearing with the realities on the ground.”

He said  no administration had been embracing corruption as the Jonathan administration.

“The President’s body language encourages corruption. Even his party member, Speaker of the House of Reps, said so,” Mohammed said.

He also accused the President of shielding corrupt people in his cabinet, part of which he said, was why “Transparency International said corruption in the country has worsened under this administration, going by the latest rankings.”

He said, “Aviation Minister Stella Oduah is a classic example: She has been indicted by the House of Representatives and even the Presidential Panel set up by the President himself. Yet, she is sitting pretty as if nothing has happened. This President does not have the political will to fight corruption.”

He lamented that the “impunity in Rivers State has taken a dangerous dimension with Sunday’s gestapo-style truncation of a planned peaceful rally.”

He said Nigerians, especially those who were not PDP members, could no longer trust the police for protection, as they had on many occasions, shown partisan dispositions in the state.

He said, “In the latest incident of the double standard by the police in Rivers, we learnt that the armed thugs of Evans Bipi, who were arrested by the JTF with arms and ammunition in the home town of Bipi and Sekibo, have been set free by the police.

“The military that arrested the men handed them over to the police, who then set them free apparently on orders from above.

“How can Nigerians trust the same police that is this partisan to protect them, especially if they do not belong to the PDP? How can Nigerians trust this same police force to provide protection for all during the 2015 elections?”