The ruling national party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had on Monday accused the opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, for hiding under the shadow of the press to make caricature of the Federal Government’s effort towards ending terrorism in the country.
The ruling party, which threw its weight behind President Goodluck Jonathan, said contrary to the claims by the ACN, no part of the Presidential Order proscribing terrorists groups, directly or indirectly violated any provision of the constitution or impinged on the freedom of the press in the country.
The party was reacting to a statement by ACN on Sunday alleging that the Presidential Order was aimed at limiting freedom of the Press.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in Abuja, PDP described the allegation by the ACN as not only despicable but a clear indication of how far the opposition party can go to distort facts in order to support violence and cause disaffection among Nigerians.
“This deliberate distortion of facts clearly betrays ACN’s support for such groups as well as the heinous attempt to whittle efforts by the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to end insurgency in the country,” the PDP said.
Quoting a section of the constitution that supports its rebuttal, the ruling party countered that the ACN was seeking to weaken the fight against the insurgency and had only succeeded in betraying its support for the acts of terrorism.
“Section 5 (1), of the Order which the ACN is kicking against prescribes a term of imprisonment of not less than 20 years ”for any person who knowingly, in any manner, directly or indirectly, solicits or renders support for the commission of an act of terrorism or to a terrorist group.”
“By all indications, it is clear that neither this section nor any other section of the Order for that matter, infringed on the rights of Nigerians and the freedom of the media as guaranteed by the constitution. Rather the section clearly seeks to stop incitements to commit a terrorist acts,” the ruling party said.
The party said, it is solidly behind Mr. Jonathan in his efforts to end terrorism in the country. It commended the president for the order which it described as a welcome development, adding that “those who have nothing to hide should not be afraid”.
It urged Nigerians to continue to go about their legitimate businesses and to be beware of the activities and interests of parties such as the ACN.
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