by Isi Esene

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has strongly condemned the persistent campaign of calumny against the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the attempt to use ethno-religious sentiments to destroy the budding party as a cheap shot that has fallen flat on the faces of the purveyors of falsehood.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party thanked Nigerians for rejecting the attempt, going by their reactions on the Social Media where the latest campaign is being waged by those who are bent on perpetuating mediocre leadership in Nigeria.

”These purveyors of falsehood do not want good governance. That’s why they are peddling the lies that the interim leadership of the APC is controlled by Muslims, and that it did not reflect the country’s plural values.

”The truth is that while ethno-religious sentiments did not form the criteria used in selecting the interim leadership, we were conscious that Nigeria is a country of plural values. That is why we have 17 Christians and 18 Muslims (the best balance possible in the odd number of 35 posts that were shared). That is why the 35 occupiers of the positions are from 29 different states, four more than the 25 stipulated by INEC. It was equal opportunity across all zones!” it said.

The party described the latest attempt to abort the APC baby as the last-ditch effort by those who have mounted similar campaigns against the party in the past, to no avail.

”First, they ambushed us by duplicating our acronym, sponsored of course by those who are well known to Nigerians and, when that failed to slow down our momentum, they said the sharing of posts will divide us and ultimately sound our death knell. With these moves having failed woefully, they have now played what they considered their most potent joker: the ethno-religious card.

Thankfully, this too has failed. Nigerians are so desirous of good governance that they will not allow any play on sentiments to shake their resolve,” it said.

The ACN said the promoters of the APC are so determined to give Nigeria the good leadership that has eluded the country for so long that they have decided to shelve their differences and make whatever sacrifices that are necessary to achieve their objective.

The party appealed to disregard the attempts by enemies of the party to sabotage the birth of the APC, in addition to being vigilant in the days ahead.