Nigeria Content Online

The office of the
acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said
yesterday that it has uncovered a plot by persons believed to be agents
of the opposition to use the press and social media networks to concoct
and disseminate spurious stories about the party’s current leadership.

The aim, it said is
to embarrass and tarnish the good public image of top leaders of the
ruling party. Emeka Nwankpa, media aide to the acting chairman of the
PDP, Haliru Mohammed, yesterday in Abuja said intelligence reports
available to the party boss, indicate that some opposition groups have
hired and commissioned certain newspapers, news magazines, social media
networks and fifth columnists to concoct and disseminate false claims
and allegations against leaders of the party to cause distrust,
discord, suspicion and disaffection in order to set them against one
another thereby creating internal discontent and disharmony.

“The office of the
acting national chairman of the party has viewed the situation and has
therefore alerted leaders, loyalists and supporters of the party to be
wary of false publications, alarming leaflets, text messages, rumours
and comments attributed to certain persons in the top hierarchy of the
party, as these are mere ploys to create division in the party,” the
statement said.

It also said that
with the conclusion of the general elections in the country, some
persons have shifted their conspiracy to the ruling party with the aim
of infiltrating it and sowing discord and inducing crisis in its fold.

Stating that the
party is handling the situation, the statement stressed that no amount
of smear campaign or conspiracy will stop Nigerians from keeping faith
with the party.

“For the avoidance
of doubt, no amount of smear campaigns, conspiracy or political
shenanigans will stop Nigerians from keeping faith with our party as
the outcomes of the recent elections have shown,” it said.

The office of the
national chairman also warned media managers not to allow themselves to
be used to cause disunity and disintegration of the country.

“The office
therefore states that it wishes to use this medium to caution owners
and managers of newspapers, news magazines and social media networks
against being used as tools by those it described as agents of chaos,
disunity and disintegration of the country masquerading as politicians.

“To the masterminds
of this wicked plot, the office wishes to admonish and advise them to
use their talents to build the Nigerian nation in response to the
repeated calls by the president-elect, President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan that all Nigerians should endeavour to put behind them the
sentiments on the outcomes of the recent elections and come together to
build a nation that not only fulfils the dream of our founding fathers
but a nation that will be cherished by generations yet unborn.”

New opposition group

Meanwhile, some
politicians and opposition leaders in the country have commenced
consultations on the need to unify their ranks in the aftermath of the
botched electoral talks that polarized their movement, jeopardizing
their chances of winning the 2011 presidential elections.

The latest
intervention, opposition leaders have said, became necessary in the
light of what it termed unproductive cleavages arising from discord
over the 2011 alliance proposals, as against the urgent need to give
positive leadership to the mass frustration, which followed the 2011
elections. Olawale Okunniyi, spokesperson for the Progressive Summit
Group, disclosed this after holding preliminary consultation on the way
forward with Tunji Braithwaite, the leader of the National Intervention
Group, (NIG) at his Victoria Island residence in Lagos.

Mr Okunniyi, who
was the governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change
in Ogun State in the April 26 elections, regretted the inability of the
progressives to strike an accord in the 2011 elections.

According to him,
the opposition would now have to learn their lessons the hard way but
was quick to add that with the growing frustration, impoverishment and
political impunity pervading the country, progressive forces will be
conditioned to come together shortly and reclaim their lost opportunity.