NIGERIA: APC Condemns PDP Factional Chair’s Call for Foreign Intervention

By Ameenat Hamzat, Lagos, Nigeria 

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as reckless and unpatriotic the call by the new factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki, for foreign intervention in Nigeria.

The ruling party’s reaction was contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.

According to the statement, Turaki, while addressing journalists on the crisis within the PDP, urged foreign powers to intervene in Nigeria to halt what he alleged to be “Christian genocide” and to protect democracy. The APC said such a call amounted to an invitation for foreign invasion of the country.

The party said Turaki, who was declared National Chairman by a faction of the PDP less than 72 hours ago, appeared “desperate” and “grossly lacking in capacity” to manage the deepening crisis within his party.

The statement read: “Turaki’s first official act as factional chairman was his call for foreign invasion of Nigeria as a solution to the self-inflicted internal crisis of his PDP. That is as shameless as it is a dangerous threat to national security and sovereignty.”

The APC noted that despite what it described as the PDP’s “ruthless subversion” of opposition parties during its 16 years in power, there was never a time foreign intervention was suggested as a solution to internal party disputes.

The party added: “Turaki’s call is not only an admission of the party’s incapacity to manage its internal contradictions; it must be taken as a final certification of the PDP’s demise.”

The ruling party urged the international community to disregard the call, describing it as a diversion from what it called the PDP’s failed internal democracy and “embarrassing disintegration.”

It added that the comments by Turaki demonstrated the level of desperation within the opposition and how far its leaders were willing to go to advance “a sinister political agenda.”

The APC encouraged Nigerians to continue supporting the party and the leadership of President Bola Tinubu in efforts to build national progress and prosperity.