The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop insulting the traditional rulers in the South-West who the Yoruba hold in high esteem.

The ruling party also alerted Nigerians about plans by the APC to malign the families of the president and petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke in a documentary as a response to the one on Bola Tinubu.

The party also described as laughable talks about dragging Mrs Patience Jonathan to the ICC, when , according to the PDP, it is General Muhammadu Buhari, who instigated the murder of Nigerians in 2011, who should face justice.

Few months ago, APC leader, Bola Tinubu had derided the South-West Obas and said most of them lack credibility and self respect.

The APC, had in a sponsored advertisement, described prayers offered to President Goodluck Jonathan by the South-West Obas, as serving Mammon.

Presidential campaign spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode said at a news conference in Abuja today, "Their threat to take the First Lady to the ICC is not only absurd but it is also nothing but the empty and boastful ranting of a perfidious, desperate, decaying and dying political party and such threat will amount to nothing. The truth is that if anybody is a candidate for the ICC, it is certainly not Dame Patience Jonathan, but rather General Muhammadu Buhari himself."

On the disrespect of the Obas, he berated the APC for insulting the monarchs, who were gathered at the Ooni’s palace where they blessed President Jonathan.

“We seize this opportunity to issue a stern warning to Lai Mohammed and his party to stop insulting the Traditional Rulers of the South-Western part of our country. It was not too long ago that the de facto leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described the South-West Traditional Rulers in the most uncharitable terms when he said only three of them could be taken seriously."

“We invited you here today to intimate the Nigerian people, through your esteemed media organisations, about a despicable and wicked agenda that is being orchestrated by the opposition to scandalise, undermine and bring into disrepute our candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan (GCFR), his wife, the First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, our Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison Maduekwe and other key government functionaries and members of his administration,” he said.

The special operations and intelligence wing of his Directorate, Fani-Kayode stated, had been reliably informed that the opposition is planning to air a documentary about the private lives of President Jonathan, the First Lady and the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

The documentary, he revealed, is “riddled with falsehood and it is vulgar, smutty, cheap, shameful and salacious.”

He said the initiative is being spearheaded by the entire leadership of APC and is being funded and organised by two serving governors and one former governor who controls his state through his hand-picked stooge.

“Our response to this initiative is one of utter repugnance. That the opposition has degenerated to such a point that in response to legitimate questions that were raised about the record in public office of their Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and their de facto leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in two major and widely viewed documentaries, the only recourse they have, rather than answering the questions put in those documentaries, is to try to humiliate, shame and disgrace our presidential candidate by making the most baseless and scandalous accusations about his private life. The truth is that this shameful course of action will not work and we shall not be distracted. Neither will we lose any sleep over it,” he said.

Adding, Fani-Kayode said, “We are, however, by this press conference, sending a clear signal to the three APC leaders that are funding and spearheading this initiative that it will not in any way serve the interest of their party or the interest of their Presidential candidate if they insist on treading that path or toeing that deplorable line. In the event of them insisting on treading this dangerous and dishonourable course, we reserve the right to respond fully and use all legitimate means to expose the inherent evil that these three individuals habitually and continuously manifest in both their private lives and whilst in public office.

“The truth is that they can say what they like about President Goodluck Jonathan, his family members and those close to him but one thing they cannot say is that, unlike one of the three individuals that is behind this disgraceful initiative, President Jonathan does not show an unhealthy interest in the affairs of little boys and he does not indulge in gross and perverse intimate acts with them in his spare time in an obscene, indecent, shameful and completely unacceptable manner.

“They can say whatever they like about our candidate but, unlike one of the three individuals that are behind this reprehensible initiative, it is not President Goodluck Jonathan that ended up eloping with and eventually marrying the house girl of his former leader.

“They can say whatever they like about President Jonathan but it is not our President who drove his own father into political oblivion, broke the poor man’s heart and sent him to an early grave in pain, tears, defeat and shame. Presidential Jonathan did not do any of these things. It is those that have insisted on engaging in this shameful and repugnant initiative that have done these things. They know who they are and, for now, we need not mention their names. At the appropriate time, we shall mention names and expose every aspect of the sordid life styles of these individuals and at that time the Nigerian people will judge for themselves.

“The second issue we want to touch on today is the shameful proposition that was made to General Muhammadu Buhari by the representatives of a number of western governments when he was in the United Kingdom for a prolonged stay. He had appealed to them for support and to get their endorsement. He had talks with the representatives of at least four western countries. The leaders of those countries made an offer to General Muhammadu Buhari and we are reliably informed that he has put the offer under consideration.“The proposition and offer was that if he was prepared to support legislation in Nigeria to allow same sex marriage and if he was prepared to repeal the anti-gay laws in Nigeria they will, in return, endorse, support and fund him, initially covertly and eventually publicly, at the right time.

“Instead of out rightly rejecting these offers and spurning this proposition, to our utter shock and consternation, General Buhari apparently refused to rule it out and has put the matter under consideration. Instead of him to say NO he assured them that he would consider these two things. We believe that this is a matter that ought to be brought to the attention of the Nigerian people as a matter of urgency.

“The APC are so desperate to ensuring that General Buhari becomes the President of this country that they are actually prepared to consider the scrapping of all anti-gay or anti-homosexual legislations and at the same time, endorsing and supporting fresh legislation that would allow same sex marriage in our country. They are considering this despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people find same sex marriage and, indeed, homosexuality repugnant and unacceptable.“We are using this occasion to challenge General Buhari to come clean and to tell the Nigerian people whether this is true and whether, in the unlikely event of his being elected President, he is seriously considering scrapping the anti-homosexual laws in our country and pushing through new legislation which would allow same sex marriage.

“The third issue is as follows. We read, with amusement, the threat by the Buhari’s Campaign Organisation through their spokesperson, Mr Garba Shehu, that it is their intention to drag the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, before the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC), for allegedly indulging in what they described as ''hate speech'' at a recent rally in Rivers State.

“It is pertinent to note that, first of all, if they were a little better educated and had a better understanding of international law and how the ICC works, they would appreciate the fact that no individual is ever taken to the ICC based on what he or she has said unless and until people act on those words and massacre others. It is only if that speech is followed by violence and mayhem or if it incites people to commit violence, which results in death, mass murder and crimes against humanity, that the person who indulged in such hate speech becomes an eligible candidate for the ICC.

“Dame Patience Jonathan is a woman of peace. She did not threaten anyone with violence; she did not incite anyone to commit violence or to kill others and her words have not resulted in death, mass murder or any crimes against humanity. We therefore completely reject the baseless charge and assertion that she has called for the killing or slaughter of anyone at any point in time.

“Their threat to take the First Lady to the ICC is not only absurd but it is also nothing but the empty and boastful ranting of a perfidious, desperate, decaying and dying political party and such threat will amount to nothing. The truth is that if anybody is a candidate for the ICC, it is certainly not Dame Patience Jonathan, but rather General Muhammadu Buhari himself.

“We say this because, firstly, he needs to answer questions about his role in the July 29, 1966 coup and the mass murder of about 300 Igbo army officers, including a serving Head of State, that took place that night. Secondly, there are questions to be answered about his role during the pogrom and massacre in northern Nigeria in 1966 in which no less than 100,000 innocent Igbo civilians, including women and children, were slaughtered in cold blood by mobs that were covertly armed and supported by a small handful of junior army officers.

“Thirdly Buhari's role during the Asaba massacre, in which hundreds of Igbo civilians were murdered for no just cause, still needs to be clarified. It is left to Buhari to clarify these matters and tell us his role in all these events but if these grave allegations are true, they make him a prime candidate for the ICC.

“Another episode in which Buhari has questions to answer is his role in the mass murder of hundreds of people in the northern part of this country, including a number of young youth corpers who were in their prime, by Buhari’s supporters in 2011. This happened after he lost the presidential elections and after he encouraged them to go on the streets to commit violence. That deviant behaviour alone makes him a veritable candidate for the ICC.

“We are, indeed, grateful that a Dutch law firm has, indeed, filed papers to the ICC asking for General Buhari to be forcefully brought to the court to answer questions about those killings in northern Nigeria by his supporters in 2011. The court action is appropriate and vital in light of the remarks credited to General Buhari about a year ago in which, inter alia, he said that if he were to lose the 2015 Presidential election, the ''baboon and the dog would both be soaked in blood''.

“What this means is that he intends to soak the entire nation in blood in the event that he loses the election on March 28. He has refused to withdraw that statement and as a precursor to the violence he will again unleash on Nigeria after the Presidential election, his supporters have been stoning the convoy of President Jonathan in some parts of the north each time he goes there to campaign.

“It is very clear that General Buhari is a violent man who has the disposition to incite people to commit mass murder and acts of violence. We wish to take this opportunity to make it abundantly clear that if anybody is killed after the 2015 presidential election after Buhari has been defeated, we will hold him accountable and fully responsible and we will ensure that he faces the full wrath of the law. Justice will be brought to him swiftly and expeditiously.

“We advise General Buhari and his Campaign Organisation to stop threatening the First Lady with the ICC and instead spend their times looking inwards and delivering themselves from their obvious blood-lust and irrational and bestial desire to inflict violence against those who do not agree with them and who they perceive as their enemies.

“On a final note, we would like to refer you to a set of pictures published on the front page of the Leadership Newspaper edition of last Tuesday. As you can see, President Jonathan is the lead figure in both pictures, which were mischievously placed on top of one another.

“In the first Picture, President Jonathan is surrounded by some prominent Yoruba traditional rulers led by His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade Olubuse II. You can see that the staffs of office of the numerous traditional rulers were pointed towards the President as he sat down and whilst they prayed for him.

“It has been brought to our attention that the spokesperson of the APC actually sponsored that advertorial and the contents of it reflect the sheer depravity of that individual's deep, dark, disrespectful and sinister mind. Under the picture, they wrote; “You cannot serve God and mammon.”

“Right below the caption is another picture in which President Jonathan was praying both in Israel and at the Redeemed Camp in Nigeria. The intent and implication of the pictures and the words below each of them are clear. The motive for displaying the pictures in this manner and those words is to bring not only President Jonathan but also our revered Traditional Rulers in the south west into disrepute and opprobrium.

“Indeed, it beats our imagination how anybody in his right senses could equate a legitimate prayer for our President in the court of the Ooni of Ife by a large number of Yoruba traditional rulers, with the worship of mammon! It is insulting, disrespectful and totally unacceptable. We seize this opportunity to issue a stern warning to Lai Mohammed and his party to stop insulting the Traditional Rulers of the south-western part of our country. It was not too long ago that the de facto leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described the southwest Traditional Rulers in the most uncharitable terms when he said only three of them could be taken seriously.

“We completely reject these insults on our Royal Fathers and we hereby call on the APC leaders to bury their heads in shame and apologise to our Traditional Rulers. We also demand an apology from Lai Muhammed for encouraging the posting of these pictures in this disgraceful manner, organising the whole thing and sponsoring the advert. If they refuse to apologise or refuse to withdraw the advert, then we take it that the APC as a party has become the enemy of every single Traditional Ruler in Yorubaland and the consequence of that will be far reaching and devastating for the fortunes of their party in the coming elections.

•Photo shows Fani-Kayode

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