The Action Congress of Nigeria has described as "irresponsible, cheap and inflammatory" the Peoples Democratic Party's statement that President Goodluck Jonathan is being criticised by the opposition because he is from a minority geo-political zone.
In a statement in Lagos on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN expressed shock and disappointment that a party that had always been quick to tout its "nationalist" credentials would stoop so low to stoke the fire of sectional politics.
The statement said, "If the PDP feels that the President is being unfairly criticised for his administration's poor performance, it should use verifiable facts and figures, not cooked-up statistics, to counter such criticism, instead of resorting to a desperate tactics that can inflame the polity.
ACN said the PDP should note that President Jonathan, as a democratically-elected leader, "is subject to criticism from those who elected him into office" as well as the opposition.
It said, "President Jonathan is not an oracle or the head of an absolute monarchy who cannot be criticised. He is a democratically-elected President whose actions are subject to scrutiny by the people, irrespective of what part of the country he comes from.
"This statement credited to the PDP spokesman, Olisa Metuh, is unprecedented. Never before has the spokesman for ruling party or a central government in Nigeria accused the opposition of criticising the President because he is from one part of the country. This statement can only be the product of a lazy and desperate party official, who will find the easy way out, even at the risk of setting the country on fire, just to keep his job."
The ACN recalled its role during the period the late President Umaru Yar'Adua was ill.
It said, "It is also on record that the ACN did more than any other party, including his own party the PDP, to push for his assumption of office as Acting President, on the strength of the country's Constitution when his principal was sick and flown out of the country.
"This was at a time the PDP itself was waffling over the issue.
"Therefore, we reject and condemn the irresponsible accusation that President Jonathan is being criticized because of the part of the country he hails from. We reject the cheap blackmail that our criticism of the President's action amounts to abuse of his person. We say, unequivocally, that while we have nothing but total respect for the office of the President, this will not prevent us from criticising his administration as constructively and responsibly as we have been doing."
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