The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation has challenged the All Progressives Congress to tell Nigerians whether or not its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, is considering the request of some foreign nations to scrap the country’s anti-gay laws and allow same-sex marriage, in order to secure their support.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode, in a statement, Thursday, in Abuja, said this was more important to Nigerians than the issues that have been raised as a consequence of Morocco’s withdrawal of their Ambassador from Nigeria.
“Our attention has been drawn to the unpatriotic stance of the APC on the issues that have been raised as a consequence of Morocco’s withdrawal of their Ambassador from Nigeria,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said.
“It is very unfortunate that rather than join hands with the Federal Government and endeavour to stand shoulder to shoulder with their compatriots and their country when it comes to the conduct of international affairs, the APC are always ready to assume the worst about their government and about their President.
“Our counsel to them is to grow up, get real and stop playing politics with such sensitive matters that border on the interest and credibility of our nation and our people.
“If they want a clarification about the Moroccan affair, they ought to go through the appropriate channels and perhaps attempt to reach our Foreign Minister in order to find out what really happened.
“That is the proper and responsible thing to do. They do not need to make a song and dance about the whole thing and they certainly should not try to gain political mileage out of it or join forces with those from outside our shores that do not wish Nigeria or the Nigerian people well.
“We are fully aware of their obvious and pronounced intellectual limitations when it comes to such matters; yet, regardless of that, they must always endeavour to remember that we are, first and foremost, Nigerians and regardless of whichever side of the political divide we find ourselves or whichever political party we belong to, we must always seek to protect our nation’s interest before anything else.
“For the APC to even begin to assume that it is true that our President or any of our government officials lied in this episode with the King of Morocco and for them to so readily accept the suggestion that we have done anything wrong or that we have somehow misled our people about what actually transpired speaks volumes.
“Our President is certainly not a liar. The only liars here are the APC and their perfidious and conflicted spokesman, Lai Mohammed. Our President and our government have done Nigeria proud when it comes to the conduct of foreign affairs over the last few years and when it comes to building bridges with other nations. This is particularly so when it comes to our relationship with other African countries.
“Our military collaboration with the nations of Chad, Niger and the Cameroons in the fight against Boko Haram and the great successes that we are jointly recording in that bitter fight is a glaring testimony to that.
“Any Nigerian or any Nigerian political party that joins hands with foreigners to denigrate our nation, to belittle our foreign policy, to undermine our credibility in the comity of nations or to work against our country’s vital core interests by assuming the worst about the conduct of our foreign affairs is simply a traitor and is not worthy of being called a Nigerian.
“Once again, the APC has shown, by their plea for a clarification on this matter, that they are a party that simply cannot possibly comprehend or grasp the complexities of national leadership or the conduct of foreign affairs.
“They have proved that they will always put their own personal and narrow party interests before the interests of our people and our nation. The basic lesson that they need to learn is this: in a time of war, you do not join hands with foreign governments or foreign kings to undermine the interest of your nation or to denigrate your President.
“Instead of talking about the King of Morocco and who spoke to whom, the APC should tell us whether it is true that their presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, in response to a request from some western countries, is considering scrapping the anti-gay laws in our country and pushing through legislation that would allow same sex marriage.
“We are far more interested in that than in the King of Morocco because if it is true that that is what they are planning, it would be a reflection of their moral depravity as a party and it would be a negation of our values as a God-fearing nation.”
