by Rachel Ogbu

Leader of the Congress for Progressive Change and former President, Muhammadu Buhari sparked a verbal war with the Peoples Democratic Party recently after he said they wanted to retain power by any means possible.

On Monday, during an interactive session with CPC party’s elected representatives in Abuja Buhari said Nigeria is in the grip of bad government and the happenings of the last 13 years had shown that the PDP did not possess the capacity to lead the country.

“A brief glance at the political history of Nigeria confirms that to hold power at the centre, you need a broad coalition, alliance, merger or whatever you may like to call it.

“Today’s situation is no different. The country is in the grip of a bad government whose only purpose is to retain power by hook or by crook – preferably by crook.

“PDP does not need merger or alliance – they are already merged and are in alliance with the Police, INEC, and the Judiciary with the NNPC and pension funds.

“The country is tired of PDP; we are tired of oppression; we are tired of corruption; we are tired of insecurity and we are tired, full stop,” Buhari said.

He believed the PDP was in no position to move the country forward and should therefore be kicked out of power in 2015.

In reaction, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said that Buhari had yet to recover from his many fails at the poll by Nigerians asking Nigerians not to take his words seriously. He added that the “serial presidential aspirants has lost focus and is not in tune with the reality in the country”.

The Punch reports:

Buhari, however, said the PDP had never won election in the country.

He said while other political parties were merging and planning alliance, the PDP was busy aligning with the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies and the judiciary in order to remain in power.

Buhari urged the elected representatives to know that the only way to send the PDP packing from Aso Rock was through the merger which the CPC is pursuing with two other opposition political parties.

Apart from the CPC, the other two political parties in the merger are the Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Nigeria Peoples Party.

The Katsina State-born general called on those in attendance at the event to regard themselves as part of the great movements that would come together to unseat the PDP.

“I believe merger is the only way to prevent continuation of this bad governance. The political class is at one that the only way to stabilise the nation is for the opposition to merge and face the ruling party,” he added.

Buhari said while elected members of the CPC could hold their heads high that they were truly elected, the same could not be said of their PDP counterparts.

According to him, “You were actually elected. You did not use police to intimidate voters; you did not use INEC staff to inflate your votes. You won in spite of all attempts by government to rig you out. How many in the PDP can say that? Very, very few.

“You can, therefore, hold your heads high and regard yourselves as genuine representatives of your constituencies.You are true sons of democracy; your positions are even more important than those of party officials and party leaders because you are the face of the CPC.”

He also called on the people to work within the 1999 Constitution to effect the change in the leadership of the country.

Metuh, however, said Buhari was still day-dreaming, adding that his language did not portray him as someone desirous to lead the country.

He said Buhari should know that Nigerians were tired of “people who instigate; people who cause violence with their words and people who are in the habit of causing tension when they speak.”

The CPC national leader, he said, had not come to terms with the reality that Nigerians would not tolerate someone who would continue to fight as a loser of election till eternity.

He said, “It is un-presidential for someone to be saying a rival political party has merged with state institutions like INEC, Police and the judiciary.

“That statement does not befit a man who says he wants to lead the country. We will want to add that such a comment is a pepper soup discussion that does not suit someone of Buhari’s status.

“We understand his plight. He is a serial loser and does not know that Nigerians are tired of him as everlasting presidential aspirant.”