TELL Magazine

Cross-section of APC Stalwarts

The opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC, has just concluded its emergency rally tagged, “Salvation Rally,” held at the Eagles Square, Abuja on Wednesday.

At the rally, the party demanded that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led Federal government, acts immediately to tame insecurity, dwindling oil price and address the hiccups in the ongoing distribution of Permanent Voters’ Card, PVC exercise.

John Oyegun

The party said it has become a matter of urgency to alert all its members and supporters of change in the country to what it described as “the unbearable circumstances the PDP is dragging Nigerians into.”

Addressing party supporters at the rally, John Oyegun, the national chairman of APC said that democracy is under threat if PDP continues to perpetuate its political antics on the people of Nigeria.

On the Boko Haram insurgency, Oyegun accused the PDP of exploiting the crisis for political reasons, arguing that the recent takeover of major towns in the North East by the insurgents is a calculated attempt to weaken the political base of the APC controlled states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

He argued that contrary to what the PDP used to deceive Nigerians that Boko Haram insurgency was a guerrilla warfare, the insurgents now take over towns and establish rulership without hiding. He accused the government of encouraging the insurgency in order to truncate the stronghold of the APC.

Worried about the lives that are being lost in the process and the suffering of the displaced, Oyegun said, “It is not the result of the 2015 elections that matters most to the APC, it is the unnecessary waste of lives of Nigerians that is our major concern.”

Speaking at the rally, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state and a presidential aspirant in the APC, explained that the aim of the rally was to inform Nigerians about the lack of performance of the PDP. He said the party will continue to hold the rally in other parts of the country.

Muhammadu Buhari

Earlier in his address at the rally, Rotimi Ameachi, Rivers State governor, called on Nigerians to reject what he described as attempts by the Federal Government to pocket the Police, and the Military for political reasons.

For instance, he said, what is happening in Ekiti State is a clear case of using the Police to give cover to minority Assembly members in favour of the PDP.

He added that the Federal governments’ refusal to obey lawful court orders on the case of Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives and other related issues are examples of dictatorial tendencies of the PDP.

The rally ended with a street March by members of the APC round the Eagle Square to further drive home their message.