“I won’t waste time refuting a nonsense that is not rooted in reason and logic. But I would tell that the APC is a party for Christians, Muslims and traditionalists. We have no limits to membership and we do not believe that leadership is by deception, as the PDP believes,” Igbokwe said.
But the Minister of State for Defense, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro insisted that all indications point to the opposition as the party fueling the Boko Haram insurgents.
“Without sounding like a broken record, Nigerians needed no soothsayers or the international community to tell us what we already know that the seeds of these extreme religious sentiments that gave rise to the Boko Haram insurgency were fueled and nurtured by some overtly ambitious politicians, who have found a comfortable nest in the opposition camp. However, we have been vindicated, but we won’t stop at that. We are working very hard to stamp out this insurgency.
“This extreme religious sentiment into our political space is subtly being introduced to the South-west. For instance, there was no time in the political history of Yorubaland where religion was promoted as a basic requirement for contesting public office, as is being propounded in Lagos State for the selfish interest of a few individuals.
“Like I have always said extreme religious sentiments bring about intolerance and when there is intolerance, people begin to exhibit tendencies that could wreak havoc on the society. This present administration has confronted this monster head-long despite obvious challenges in terms of shortfall in military hardware, which is presently being taken care of.
“All we are doing is to clean up the mess that they and their friends, who have sympathies for Boko Haram created. To now turn it into politics and try to get political mileage out of it is not fair to the people of this country,” he stated.
With this latest development, it does appear the APC no longer find it easy, either to convince the people that it is not a Muslim/Muslim party or that it is not sympathetic to the cause of Boko Haram. However, if this stigma goes on unchallenged effectively, it means it could spell a major setback for the APC and whatever chances it stands to appropriate in next year’s general election. (Thisday)[eap_ad_3]