The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday expressed shock over the announcement by the All Progressives Congress that it had engaged the services of a foreign firm, AKPD Message and Media, to boost its electoral chances in 2015.
The ruling party called on Nigerians to resist this because it was an attempt by the opposition party to throw the nation back to imperialism 54 years after independence.
It will be recalled that the APC had claimed in a statement signed by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that the appointment of the consultant, who had worked for the election of the President of the United States of America, President Barak Obama, was aimed at raising the electoral chances of the party.
But a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the action was a clear justification of its stand that the APC was anti-Nigeria.
Metuh said, “In engaging the services of a foreign firm, the APC has shown that it does not have faith in our people, our indigenous consultancy firms and the teeming well qualified, world-acclaimed Nigerian professionals and technocrats.
“Just as the leopard cannot change its spots, so also is the APC unable to hide its true colour as an anti-people organisation, tied to the apron string of foreign interests in utter disdain for fellow Nigerians and the age-long clamour for local content.”
He alleged that the APC had an inner contempt for Nigerians, adding that its latest action was not only an affront on nationalism but a weird embrace of neo-colonialism at a time national pride and assertiveness had assumed a rule of engagement in global politics.
He said, “We are afraid that neo-colonialism is the guiding ethos of the APC’s quest to rule Nigeria. It is now apparent that the leadership of this opposition party may have perfected plans to use some foreign interests to siphon national resources and reverse the pro-national socio-economic foundation laid by the founding fathers of Nigeria.”
Metuh said there was no way the APC could justify its action, which he termed as a crime against the Nigerian people.
He said, “Nigerians are discerning enough to see the clever attempt to cover this monumental insult by dropping the name of President Obama, who was duly re-elected by the popular votes of the people of the United States as a beneficiary of this consultancy service.”
Also, the umbrella body of public relations firms in Nigeria, Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria, has criticised the APC for hiring US-based firm to manage the party’s campaign for the 2015 general elections.
In a press statement jointly signed by the association’s President, Chido Nwankanma and Publicity Secretary, Israel Jaiye Opayemi, PRCAN said that there were peculiar issues in the nation that only local firms could understand.
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