Opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday, took a swipe at Senator Oluremi Tinubu for criticising Senator Smart Adeyemi who expressed passionate concerns over the worsening security situation in the country at the floor of the upper chamber on Tuesday.
In a statement titled, ‘Killings: Buhari Presidency, APC Insensitive… Accuses APC Of Gagging Members’, the PDP lambasted the All Progressives Congress and Tinubu for trying to silence men of conscience from speaking the truth regardless of their political parties.
Adeyemi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, while making his contribution on Tuesday, had shed tears but the wife of APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu, was not moved by Adeyemi’s tears. Rather she described him as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
Adeyemi had said the country was facing the worst instability since the civil war. “This is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war,” he had said.
Tinubu, who couldn’t hide her anger, asked, “Are you in the PDP? Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?”
Adeyemi, however, ignored her and said amidst tears that, “We cannot pretend that we are capable of handling the situation in our hands.
“We shouldn’t pretend that we need foreign support now. Billions of naira have been voted for security services and nothing is coming out.
“I’m a party man and I’m supporting the APC, but it has got to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet.”
Reacting in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP on Wednesday said, “Our party has already been made aware of how the APC has been gaging its members from speaking out against the failure of the Buhari Presidency and the APC to tackle insecurity in our country.
“Nigerians are invited to note how APC Senator Smart Adeyemi, who dared to speak out against the failure of the Buhari Presidency on the floor of the Senate, was reminded by Senator Remi Tinubu that he, Senator Adeyemi, is not a member of the PDP and as such should not show concern to the ugly situation in our country.
“From the comment of Senator Tinubu, it is instructive to note that the APC and their leaders had turned their backs on Nigerians and that it is only the senators, members and other leaders elected on the platform of the PDP that are concerned about the plight of citizens at this critical time.”
The party also lamented the decision of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), “to recede into the comfort and safety of Aso Presidential Villa and kept silent while the nation burns, had worsened the situation and emboldened terrorist elements to unleash more violence on our nation”.
The statement further read, “It is a mark of failure that the Buhari Presidency and the APC appears unconcerned as terrorists and bandits take control of various parts of our country and even hoisted their flags in Shiroro, Niger state, a distance of about 200 kilometres to our Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
“The Buhari Presidency and the APC appear unperturbed and are only interested in their 2023 power grabbing plot while terrorists are having a field day plundering and murdering our compatriots on daily basis.”
“Our party urges Nigerians not to resign to fear and despondency but brace up and work together as a people in the defence of our nation as the Buhari Presidency and the APC have shown that they are not committed to the security and wellbeing of our nation,” the PDP stated.