The Federal Government has accused the opposition Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) of plumbing the depths of infamy for saying the abduction
and release of the Dapchi schoolgirls were stage-managed.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, the Minister ofInformation and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said such postulationportrays the PDP as an inhuman, insensitive, unpatriotic and unworthyparty.
He said since the release of the Dapchi girls were negotiated byfriendly countries and reputable international organizations, it wouldhave 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 itwas in power to quickly resolve a similar abduction of schoolgirls.
As we have said many times since the abduction of the Dapchischoolgirls, no government is exempted from its own share oftragedies. What makes the difference is the way such tragedies aremanaged. Whereas it took the PDP all of 18 days to even acknowledge
the abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014, the APC Federal Governmentacted promptly and responsively when the Dapchi schoolgirls wereabducted 19 Feb. 2018, hence their quick release, he said.
The Minister said it is unfortunate that the PDP that failed woefullyas a ruling party has also failed grievously as an opposition party,going by its insensitive and crude response to the release of theDapchi schoolgirls a development that calls for non-partisancelebration.
In its 16 years in power, the PDP redefined governance ascluelessness, massive looting of the public treasury and crudeexhibition of power. In its over three years in opposition, the PDP has again shown it does not understand the role of the opposition in ademocracy. How then can the PDP convince Nigerians that it has learntits lessons and that it is ready to rule the country again? Nigeriansmust say never again to this primitive and soulless party, hesaid.
Alhaji Mohammed said the Federal Government has not been responding to
the amateurish and jejune statements from the PDP precisely becausethe 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 ofthe opposition in a democracy.
We broke our own rules this time because the PDP over-reached itselfand scored an own goal at a time it could simply have congratulatedthe 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 willintensify the ongoing efforts to secure the release of the remaining Chibokgirls and return them safely to their families, just like over 100
other Chibok girls who have so far been released, unlike the PDP thatcould not secure the release of even one of the girls before it wasbooted out of power.
Source: NAN