Ekweremadu, S’East govs not working for Buhari – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has denied the statement attributed
to the Buhari Media Organisation that the Deputy Senate President,
Ike Ekweremadu, and South-East governors were working for President
Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection.

A statement by the party after its meeting with party leaders in
the zone accused the All Progressives Congress of inciting the
people of the region against Ekweremadu and the PDP governors in
the zone.

The statement signed by the Publicity Secretary for the PDP in
the South-East, Dr Chijioke Ekwegh, said the BMO was only playing
mind games.

The PDP said apart from poverty,insecurity,electoral fraud,
unemployment, gagging the press, nepotism and corruption, the
Buhari administration had not achieved anything tangible since
2015.

The opposition party urged Nigerians to reject Buhari and vote
for its candidate Atiku Abubakar in next month’s presidential
poll.

The statement partly read, “The attention of the South-East zone
of the PDP has been drawn to an amateurish propaganda by the Buhari
Media Organisation, a pro-All Progressives Congress group, wherein
it claimed that Ike Ekweremadu and South-East PDP governors of PDP
were working for APC’s victory in the 2019 presidential
election.

“The fact that it came from the BMO clearly shows that it is a
lie from the pit of hell meant to divide and disorganise the PDP
ahead of the general elections.

“This misadventure by the BMO has, however, helped to expose the
source of the lingering attempt to run down our party leaders in
the zone, incite the people against them, and create bad blood
among Ndigbo. Although we are in an election season, such extreme
propaganda and mind games can’t be tolerated.

“The PDP remains one big family and every attempt, such as this,
to play on our intelligence cannot stand.”

Meanwhile, the pan-Igbo sociocultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
has faulted Buhari’s claim that his administration has been fair to
the South-East.

Spokesman for the group, Uche Achi-Okpaga, told our
correspondent that Buhari was being “economical with the
truth”.

The President said during an interview on Arise TV on Monday
that he had been fair to the South-East, in spite of the poor low
votes (198,000) he got from the region in the 2015 presidential
election.

He said though any local government could have given him the
figure he got from the zone, he appointed ministers from the region
to key positions in his government. But Achi-Okpaga said the
appointment of ministers was a statutory matter which made every
state entitled to one in line with the constitution of the
country.

The spokesman said, “Is that a favour? That is a statutory
matter; if it were not so, he (Buhari) would not have appointed any
one from the South-East.

“Apart from ministerial appointments, what other appointment has
he made from the zone? Let him tell us. In all ramifications, he
has not been fair to the Igbo. He is being economical with the
truth.”