THE leading political parties in Nigeria, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), traded blames, on Monday over the attack on the convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari in Kano.
The president was in the state to inaugurate projects but he was not given a rousing welcome, as the residents used to do, as they shunned his visit.
The president, it was gathered, boarded helicopter straight from the airport to the Inland Dry Port, venue of the inauguration of one of the projects and paid homage to the emir.
Unconfirmed sources hinted that at Hototo Quarters, some angry residents bar- ricaded the road leading to one of the project sites and attacked some vehicles in the convoy of the president.
The situation was, how- ever, later brought under control after the police dispersed the crowd, who were burning tyres with teargas.
The president was not in the convoy when it was at- tacked.
A video also showed some residents throwing stones at the helicopter, which the president boarded to the inauguration site.
Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, claimed that the president was attacked by miscreants, which it alleged were sponsored by some aggrieved politicians.
But, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council differed, asking the security agents to arrest Ologunagba.
The APC PCC said the statement attributed to the PDP spokesman was part of “the plot by PDP to orchestrate and execute many evil plans to defame, ridicule and delegitimise President Buhari and the presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu.”
According to a statement issued, on Monday, by Ologunagba, the PDP said “this organised attack on the person of the president is outright treasonable and a sacrilegious assault on our national sovereignty, which must be condemned by all.”
The main opposition party said it was alarmed that the attack was part of the alleged plot to undermine the presidency, cause confusion, trigger violence in the country, disrupt the conduct of the 2023 general election and derail the democracy.
The PDP urged Nigerians to note how Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State attempted to abridge President Buhari’s movement as he even tried to stop him from visiting the state.
The party added: “More disquieting is the fact that the APC presidential campaign sought to humiliate and harm President Buhari while performing his official duties in Kano.
“It should also be noted that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, has been displaying open aver- sion and making inciting statements against President Buhari since his declaration, in line with democratic best practices all over the world, that Nigerians should freely vote for any candidate and party of their choice in the 2023 general election.
“The apparent frustration of Tinubu to resort to encourage or condone violence is fuelled by his entitlement mentality, that it is his turn to be president, despite his numerous ineligibility and disability baggage.
“Nigerians are reminded about Tinubu’s infamous statement in London, where he declared to his supporters that ‘political power is not go-ing to be served in a restaurant, it is not served a la carte. It is what we are doing; It is being determined; you do it at all cost; fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it.’
“Only recently, Tinubu further incited his followers against President Buhari at the presidential rally in Abeo- kuta, Ogun State, where he accused the president of attempting to subvert the electoral process.”
The PDP counseled Tinubu to come to terms with the fact that Nigerians were determined to have a free, fair and credible election and that “they are unwavering in their choice of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as the next president of our country.”
Countering the allegation, Director, Media and Publicity, APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement last night, dis- missed it as a contrived, imaginary attack.
While appealing to Nigerians to ignore what he de-scribed as “fake news from a party that has lost touch with reality,” Onanuga said “Nigerians of goodwill would have seen by now that we didn’t raise false alarm in our statement issued on Sunday, January 29, 2023, where we detailed the evil machinations of PDP and their hirelings.
“Only the evil mind of PDP could conceive an attack on a president of Nigeria. It is not impossible that PDP, through its paid agents, would organise miscreants to stage manage an attack but we are sure the security agencies are capable of foil- ing any planned attack on the president and anyone who is caught in such unholy plot, now or in the future, will have himself or herself to blame.”
It called on the security agencies, especially the po- lice and Department of State Security (DSS), to immediate- ly arrest PDP spokesman for interrogation over the sup- posed attack.
