APC denies copying PDP’s manifesto

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
APC denies copying PDP’s manifesto


•Accuses Presidency of voodoo opinion poll

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday it has never in any manner copied the manifesto of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because it is empty.

It insisted that the recent poll by KA Research Ltd, Africa Division, which gave it a 10 per cent edge over PDP was more authentic than NOI Polls allegedly traced to the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala.

APC accused the Presidency and PDP of practising voodoo with doctored opinion poll.

The party made its position known at a briefing in Abuja by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, preparatory to the launching of its “ROADMAP” tomorrow.

He said: “You see, we did not copy any manifesto. Honestly, if anybody is going to copy any manifesto, PDP’s manifesto is the worst to be copied. It should be clear to everybody.

“In fact, when we merged, Nigerians were yearning for merger on a daily basis. We held news conferences. We raised a merger committee. We set up a manifesto committee led by Chief Audu Ogbeh. It was a beautiful piece of work. But you can see that we have even gone a step further with our roadmap.

“When our manifesto committee was raised, we needed that manifesto to meet Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) requirements to register. What we have is the roadmap, built on what the manifesto committee did. It will be suicidal for any party in Nigeria to copy PDP’s manifesto. I am not even aware if they have any. If they have, it is not even good. Why would anybody copy them?”

Mohammed said contrary to insinuations, it was the PDP, which was poaching APC members because it was jittery.

He added: “I listened to the national chairman of the PDP in Ilorin on Monday and he talked about poaching. We never poached. You see, when we started the process last year, we announced to the whole world that the defunct ANPP, the defunct ACN and the defunct CPC would enter into a merger and become one party.

“We went into the process as prescribed for us by relevant laws and the constitution. That was the first stage. This is why I keep explaining to people that three things happened in Nigeria, which changed the political landscape. The first was on July 31, 2013, the day INEC approved the merger. From that day, the political calculations, the political permutations in the country changed.

“The second was exactly a month after when seven PDP leaders and their governors walked out of a convention and PDP has not recovered from that. The final was the day the new PDP joined the APC.

“So what happened was on the one hand via merger, which was perfectly legitimate; then we had an implosion within the PDP. It was that implosion, which led to the walking out of the leaders, which finally led to their coming to join the APC. We did not poach.

“Now, it is true that probably if there had been no merger, there will be no such platform. Those governors and those PDP senators would have been probably forced to stay in PDP. This is because there would have been no options for them.

“Come to the ACN, they will say it is a Southwest party. Go to ANPP, they will say it is a northern regional party. Go to this, they will say it is one man party. Now because our own leaders had the foresight of embarking on this merger, despite the cynicism of everybody, by the time the implosion happened, there was a national platform for them. This is what the National Chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu, is mistaking for poaching. We never poached anywhere.”

The APC interim National Publicity Secretary said the PDP National Chairman was mistaking defection for poaching.

Said he: “However, while the law makes it permanently legal, legitimate for a governor, the deputy governor, the president or the vice president to move over from the party upon which he or she is elected to another party, it is not so easy with the legislators.

“So there is no ceremony if a governor crosses to APC tomorrow. But for a legislator to be able to move, it is expected that there is a faction within your party. Also there are procedures in the House. So, those 44 or 45 senators, who moved from PDP to APC, and the 37 members from the House of Representatives, who moved from PDP to APC were only following all righteousness to inform the House and the Senate President. Obviously, it is because of the faction within the PDP. Even today, I read that Oyinlola said he still remains the authentic National Secretary of the party.

“So whatever we have done, look at it from the view point of the constitution, from the view point of the law. We have always been law-abiding. They are the ones poaching. We did not poach in any way.”

On the controversy over opinion poll, Mohammed said APC did not conduct the survey on its own.

He gave insights into how the poll was conducted and released some indices to show that it was a credible exercise.

According to him, “for the benefit of the President and his likes who are hard of hearing, let’s give more specifics on the polling company and poll:

“•The survey has been conducted by KA Research Limited, Africa Division, on behalf of APC Nigeria within the 2015 Pre-Election Polling Programme, between December 9, 2013 and January 12, 2014.

“•The survey results is based on a Face to Face Nationwide Survey conducted in 36 States + FCT in Nigeria; with sample size of 21.091 interviews; representing 18+ population of Nigeria living in urban and rural settlements.

“•The survey respondents have been selected using multi-stage random sampling methodology across all Nigerian states; interviewed by experienced and trained local field teams in each state.

“•The survey results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 0.7 per cent, including design effect.

“•KA Research Limited (KARL) is a privately-owned international research company, based in Brussels, Belgium and Istanbul, Turkey; operating in more than 60 countries with its own offices, subsidiaries and affiliates in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA Region).

“•The company specialises in social and political polling; economic and media research in EMEA Region; its clientele includes private, governmental, non-governmental and academic clients, think-tanks; such as World Bank, United Nations, UNICEF, UNDP, Save The Children, USAID, DFID, University of Michigan, University of Maryland, CSIS, Brooking Institutions, National Democratic Institute, ABC News, BBC World Service, NHK Japan, ARD Germany, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Coca-Cola and Burger King Corporations; the company is also cooperating and working closely with major global research and consulting companies in EMEA Regions.”

The APC spokesman said the release of the poll outcome had created confusion in the Presidency.

He said: “First, the Presidency was confused. They seemed to think the APC conducted this survey itself. No, they got things wrong.

“Unlike the PDP, we do not conduct surveys ourselves; instead, we commissioned professionals to conduct our polls. We used experts in the field so that the results are accurate and above reproach. In this instance, our poll was conducted by KA Research Limited, Africa Division. It was the largest survey of its kind ever conducted in Nigeria. I understand how this might have been confusing to the Presidency, since the PDP does not use unbiased, professional pollsters.

“This explains why the results were such a shock to the PDP. The Presidency suggested we were practising some kind of voodoo. It seems the voodoo is coming entirely from the PDP and its survey company.

“Second, just who is the PDP/Presidency’s polling company? It is a firm named NOI Polls. And just who is this firm? Do those initials ring a bell? The Presidency’s pollster is none other than Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI), the Coordinating Minister herself!

“And considering she recently lost track of more than $20billion at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), why would anyone trust any number she ever produced?

“If there’s anyone practising voodoo, it’s NOI polls. And when you ask the Coordinating Minister about her polling company, make sure to also ask her about the money that’s disappeared, and that the people of Nigeria need their money back!

“So, now that we’ve set the record straight and we know our survey numbers are the correct and credible ones, let’s review those results one more time:

“When asked, “If the elections were held today, would you vote for Goodluck Jonathan or the candidate of the All Progressives Congress,” the APC candidate held a 10-point b lead over the President. By a margin of 44 per cent to 34 per cent (with 22 per cent undecided), the APC candidate was the clear national choice.

“When asked, “In general, do you think things in Nigeria are going in a good direction or bad direction,” by a staggering more than two-to-one margin (50 per cent-24 per cent), Nigerians responded that the country was going in a bad direction.

“When asked, “What issue would you like the President and National Assembly to focus on most,” an overwhelming majority (60 per cent) said job was the dominant issue that the government should address.

“And then when asked if they found the following statement convincing or not, “Goodluck Jonathan has done nothing to create jobs, and far too many people are still unemployed.” Decisively, 58 per cent of Nigerians found that argument about Jonathan convincing.

“Finally, when asked if Jonathan was doing a good or bad job fighting corruption, 59 per cent of Nigerians thought Jonathan was a doing a bad job fighting corruption.”

Asked what the APC had realised from the poll, Mohammed said it was obvious Nigerians were after change.

He added: “The message is clear: The nation is going in the wrong direction. The country wants change and would not vote to re-elect Jonathan in part because the number one issue to Nigerians is job and the nation believes Jonathan has no credibility on the issue of job creation.

“Nigerians also believe Jonathan has done an extremely poor job fighting corruption (that he’s actually closed his eyes to corruption) and that the resources that should be invested in job creation, infrastructure and economic development have been stolen and wasted – undermining the nation’s opportunity.

“We hope the PDP will also come clean on its own survey company; the fact that it is owned by a serving minister whose initials are used to name the company, and the fact that it has been feeding doctored opinion poll to Nigerians.

“We have chosen to call the opinion polls they conduct on behalf of themselves and for themselves ‘’incestuous’’. We have nothing more to add!”