APC also condemned the suspension of the CBN Governor.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has fixed May 24 for its first National Convention. The party also stated that its Ward Congresses will hold on April 5, Local Government Congress on the April 12, and State Congress on April 23.
The dates were announced via a communiqué of the 9th meeting of the party’s Interim National Executive Committee, NEC, which held at its National Secretariat Abuja on Tuesday.
The communiqué also stated that the party’s interim NEC has commiserated with the families of the people who died on Saturday at several venues of the job test by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS.
The party also extended its sympathy and prayers to those who were injured in the stampede, and wished them a speedy recovery.
“The needless deaths of our youth, which resulted from a combination of exploitation, corruption, greed and incompetence of the relevant authorities, represent a needless violation of their right to life and dignity. Out of sheer greed, 1,000 Naira each was collected from the over 770,000 unemployed applicants shortlisted,” it said.
Stealing from the jobless
The APC also said the Federal Government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had used the employment exercise to fleece unemployed youth and their parents of N776 million using a consultant as conduit.
APC said the candidates were only made to suffer as the slots had already been allocated.
“Even then, the available vacancies of about 4,500 have already been filled through the back door by over 3,000 candidates of PDP Apparatchik and government officials,” it said.
The opposition party said “the pervasive corruption and incompetence that have become the hallmarks of the Jonathan Administration paved the way for this unprecedented greed in which hapless job seekers were extorted by the same government that has failed to provide jobs for them.
“Yet, this government has no social security or any form of safety net for the vulnerable army of the unemployed.”
It reiterated its earlier position that the government under Mr. Jonathan encourages corruption.
“It should be made clear that this government encourages and baby sits corruption stealing not only from the Pension fund of Nigerian citizens, but also from the unemployed and from our collective patrimony, the NNPC,” it said.
The party called for a criminal investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the death of innocent Nigerians, to find out who authorized the fleecing of job seekers by a government agency, what happened to the money realized from the heist and why the relevant officials did not ensure a better arrangement that could have saved precious lives.
It added that the job stampede deaths constitute the latest in a series of events that have turned Nigeria into a massive killing field in recent times.
“The orgy of killings in the past few weeks have left hundreds dead and many more maimed in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Katsina and Plateau, just to mention a few. Never in the peace time history of our dear country has there been such a high number of needless deaths,” it said.
Government does not care
The opposition party also claimed that in spite of the unprecedented killing of innocent Nigerians; the PDP-led Federal Government has been carrying on as if all is well.
It said after presiding over a wasteful centenary celebration, Mr. Jonathan has been “gallivanting around the country, addressing political rallies when he should be commiserating with families of the dead in the affected states, especially Yobe where innocent children were massacred by a cowardly band of terrorists, and Katsina which he visited a few hours after hundreds of people were killed”.
Plot to remove APC Governors thickens
The APC also said it has information that the imposition of a total state of emergency is being considered for Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, which, it claims, is a smokescreen to remove the democratically-elected Governors of those APC states.
“We condemn this move unequivocally and urge the President to jettison the idea, if indeed it is being remotely contemplated, because it will not advance the cause of peace in the affected states,” APC said.
It said against the background of the orgy of killings, the party is compelled to say that the Jonathan Administration has lost total control of events in the country, with the result that Nigerians are now being left to their own devices.
“It is clear that the situation in our country today, whether it is in the area of security, job creation, fight against corruption or even growing of the economy, is far beyond the capacity of those at the helm,” it said.
The party also said it has noted a string of ferocious attacks and blackmail mounted against Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank.
It said that someone who publicly disclosed the brazen theft of $20 billion dollars from the NNPC becomes a candidate for character assassination and blackmail is questionable and condemnable.
“Sanusi’s suspension is an affront to law and a threat to Nigeria’s institutional stability,” it said.
“This is also a government of double standard. Why is the Minister of Petroleum, Deziani, still in office when the major agency she superintendents is under investigation over the missing $20 billion?”
The party said, the only salvation for Nigeria is a purposeful and focused party like the APC.
“From the Road-map which we unveiled recently, it is clear that we recognize the enormity of the challenges facing our dear country, hence we made job creation our priority, followed by security and the fight against corruption, among others.
“We urge our compatriots not to despair or give up hope, because salvation is in the horizon. The APC today embodies the hopes and aspirations of our long-suffering people. We have no doubt that this country can and will work again, and we are up to the task of restoring hope to our beleaguered people,” the APC said.
The Interim NEC meeting was attended by members of the party’s Interim National leadership led by Bisi Akande, as well as, Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State. National leaders of the party present include Bola Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari, Ali Sheriif, Ogbonnoya Onu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Olusegun Osoba, as well as Senators Bukola Saraki, Danjuma Goje and others.
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