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 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 anyone 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.” – Punch

– Jan. 12, 2019 @ 11:39 GMT |