The All Progressives Congress (APC) has condoled with the Nigerian First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, over the death of 11 of her women supporters in a ghastly motor accident last Saturday.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Lai Mohammed, the party also commiserate with the people and government of Bayelsa state, expressing shock and sadness at the untimely death of the women, who it described as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters.
It prayed God to grant the deceased eternal rest and also give their bereaved families the strength to bear their losses.
In another development, the Party has raised the alarm over a strange directive ordering the withdrawal of Customs, Immigration and other security personnel from the country’s border posts in Kebbi and Katsina States.
A statement issued Monday, in Lagos by Mr. Mohammed, said there was a verbal directive leading to the total withdrawal of personnel from the border posts in the two states, leaving the posts unmanned.
APC said it wondered who gave the order and for what purpose, asking the federal government to immediately explain to Nigerians the reason behind the said directive.
“It will not be enough for the government to tell Nigerians that it is not aware of such a development, because that will be more egregious than what happened in the first instance, and will amount to the government not being able to secure the country’s borders,” it stated.
Adding: “It is also necessary to tell Nigerians how many states were affected by such orders. We were only made aware of two, but there is the possibility that the directive could have been more widespread.
The opposition said with no one left to man the borders in the affected areas for as long as the directive lasted, which was yet to be determined, anything could have happened.
“Who gave the verbal order? Was the order given verbally so that there will be no evidence of it? Were the Customs, Immigration and other security personnel ordered away to allow the free entry of contraband goods, election materials, weapons, terrorists or what?
“Even with our borders manned, Boko Haram terrorists have been marauding freely along the border areas. Will this illegal order not worsen the security situation, at a time the government is giving Nigerians the assurance that it will deal Boko Haram a mortal blow within six weeks?” it queried.
APC said the development, coming a day after leaflets were distributed in Gombe which asked people to stay away from polling booths on election days, raised more fears over the ongoing scheming by the Jonathan Administration and the PDP to ensure the rescheduled elections do not hold.
“In pursuit of this objective, these band of desperate people will do anything, including threatening the very existence of the country. Nigerians must not allow them,” the party demanded.
