Raising False Alarms Will Not Earn You Public Sympathy - Presidency Replies PDP | CNR

The Presidency has advised the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to stop raising false alarms in order to gain public sympathy and divert attention from its abysmal past record and failures.

It urged the PDP to "address the concerns raised about their role in the mass data harvesting at the heart of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, following the revelation that they hacked into Candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s personal data in the run up to the 2015 general elections", adding nothing undermines a country’s democracy as such unfair practices.

In a statement Saturday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on media and publicity, Garba Shehu mocked the PDP over their decision to drag the All Progressives Congress over alleged plot to rig the 2019 election.

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"The PDP's decision to drag the All Progressives Congress, APC, and INEC to the United Nations over alleged plan or plot to rig the 2019 general elections are not only laughable and puerile, but they also demonstrate the level of desperation that is haunting the opposition leaders.

President Muhammadu Buhari is passionately committed to free and fair elections in the country and for a man who joined forces with local and international observers to ensure a free and fair election which brought him to power in 2015, the President would under no circumstances tolerate any attempt to derail constitutional democracy.

The Presidency insisted that the ruling APC is committed to free and fair election, citing the examples of Edo, Anambra, and Ondo where opposition party won recent election due the neutrality of APC-led federal government.

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"The outcome of the gubernatorial elections in Edo, Ondo and Anambra States stand as clear examples of President Buhari's commitment to free and fair elections in the country, and Nigerians should indeed be wary of PDP's desperate propaganda.

"For the PDP to be  preaching free and fair elections is like a street-walker preaching about chastity.

"We must recall that the PDP  postponed the 2015 general elections in the guise of national security challenges because defeat was staring it starkly in the face. However, despite the delay tactics, it was resoundingly defeated when the polls finally held.

"The PDP has lost every moral ground and it is mortally afraid of facing the 2019 general elections because Nigerians will always remember their past and punish them one  more time for economically plundering the country.

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"The Cambridge Analytica hacking scandal committed against  Candidate Buhari by the PDP in 2015 in which billions of Naira was paid out to the Israelis and others hackers has shown that the former ruling party lacks both the integrity and credibility to talk about election rigging.

"Instead of explaining their role in the scandal, the nation is greeted by stunning silence. Do they think this will simply blow away?, Garba asked rhetorically.

It advised the PDP to stop hiding behind allegations of a plot to rig the elections, since "the opposition party should work harder to win back the  trust of voters instead of spreading  false alarm to gain international sympathy", the statement read.