APC carpets PDP, says party misconstrued restructuring

In response to the statement issued on Sunday by the spokesperson of People Democratic Party (PDP), Dayo Adeyeye claiming that PDP has always supported restructuring, the ruling APC has said that the issue of restructuring should ordinarily be a welcome development, given that it provides opportunity for bi-partisan cooperation on this very important national issue.

However, of concern to the APC according to Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the Party, is PDP’s rather “shallow interpretation of restructuring as desired by Nigerians”.

Adeyeye of the PDP had quoted several aspects of his party’s constitution which he claimed serve as evidence that PDP believes in restructuring, however, the APC said that a cursory review of the referenced parts of the constitution would, however, suggest either the PDP is deliberately out to mislead or it just does not have an appropriate understanding of the restructuring that Nigerians clamor for.

 

“For instance, preamble 2(b) of the PDP constitution quoted by Adeyeye states:  To work together under the umbrella of the party for the speedy restoration of democracy, the achievement of national reconciliation, economic and social reconstruction and respect for human rights and the rule of law.

 

“If statements such as the above are what he PDP intends to pass off as restructuring, this should further confirm that the party is still not in tune with the aspirations and dreams of the Nigerian people. It is indeed amusing that after being in power for 16 years, PDP is just waking up to realise that its constitution prescribed restructuring.

If this is not political opportunism, we wonder what is. We understand that PDP needs desperately to return to reckoning; and realising that restructuring is the new political currency in Nigeria, it is now latching on and even claiming to be an apostle.

 

“As the ruling party between 1999 and 2015, PDP organised two national conferences, in 2005 and in 2014. They had nine years between the first conference and the second one and one full year between the time the report of the 2014 conference was submitted and the time it lost power in 2015. Perhaps, if PDP show which aspects of the two reports it had implemented in the time it had, then perhaps Nigerians might begin to take them seriously on the issue of restructuring”, the Abdullahi said.

 

The APC further said that, if the PDP now believes in restructuring, they are welcomed “as latter day converts”.

The party however advised that, the appropriate behaviour would be for them to respect the efforts it is currently making to deliver on its party’s manifesto on restructuring, insisting that it must interest the PDP that they have dusted up the reports of their national conferences from the shelves they had left them to gather dust and those reports are now forming part of the work we are doing with our committee, which they have tried hard to denigrate.

 

The APC further reiterated its believe in the restructuring of the country, saying that it is at the very heart of the party’s manifesto as explicitly stated in Section 3 (1) thus: ‘’We will devolve more revenue and powers, such as policing to States and  Local Government so that decision making is closer to the people. We pledge to bring the government closer to the people through fiscal and political decentralization, including local policing.’’