Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Government has accused the opposition Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) of plumbing the depths of infamy for saying the adoption
and release of the Dapchi schoolgirls were stage-managed.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said such postulation
portrays the PDP as an inhuman, insensitive, unpatriotic and unworthy
party.
He said since the release of the Dapchi girls were negotiated by
friendly countries and reputable international organizations, it would
have taken a conspiracy of global proportion to have stage-managed the
adoption and release of the girls.
Alhaji Mohammed said the reaction of the PDP amounts to an expression
of sour grapes, especially because the party failed woefully – when it
was in power – to quickly resolve a similar abduction of schoolgirls.
”As we have said many times since the abduction of the Dapchi
schoolgirls, no government is exempted from its own share of
tragedies. What makes the difference is the way such tragedies are
managed. Whereas it took the PDP all of 18 days to even acknowledge
the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014, the APC Federal Government
acted promptly and responsively when the Dapchi schoolgirls were
abducted 19 Feb. 2018, hence their quick release,” he said.
The Minister said it is unfortunate that the PDP that failed woefully
as a ruling party has also failed grievously as an opposition party,
going by its insensitive and crude response to the release of the
Dapchi schoolgirls – a development that calls for non-partisan
celebration.
”In its 16 years in power, the PDP redefined governance as
cluelessness, massive looting of the public treasury and crude
exhibition of power. In its over three years in opposition, the PDP
has again shown it does not understand the role of the opposition in a
democracy. How then can the PDP convince Nigerians that it has learnt
its lessons and that it is ready to rule the country again? Nigerians
must say ‘never again’ to this primitive and soulless party,” he
said.
Alhaji Mohammed said the Federal Government has not been responding to
the amateurish and jejune statements from the PDP precisely because
the party has failed to learn the ropes of being an opposition party,
”even when we have advised them to take a crash course on the role of
the opposition in a democracy.
”We broke our own rules this time because the PDP over-reached itself
and scored an own goal at a time it could simply have congratulated
the government and people of Nigeria on the release of the girls or
just keep quiet,” he said.
The Minister assured Nigerians that the Federal Government will
intensify the ongoing efforts to secure the release of the remaining Chibok
girls and return them safely to their families, just like over 100
other Chibok girls who have so far been released, unlike the PDP that
could not secure the release of even one of the girls before it was
booted out of power.