PDP dangles dollars to lure back defected federal lawmakers, says APC

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the PDP of using public funds to lure back some of the federal lawmakers who have defected from the ruling party to the APC, condemning what it called political horse trading carried too far.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP, in an unprecedented show of desperation, has rolled out a mouth-watering enticement package that promises 2 million US dollars to each Senator who returns to the PDP; 1 million US dollars to each member of the House of Representatives, and 10 million dollars to each 'leader' who abandons the APC for PDP.

It said the price tag for the federal legislators from Rivers State is even higher, at 5 million dollars each.

But the APC said there is no cause for alarm, as no amount of inducements will stop the change that is in the horizon, because the long-suffering people of Nigeria are ready and eager to vote out the PDP next year.

The party said the five House of Representatives members who have taken the PDP's killer bait when they defected to the APC, were neither forced to do so nor given any incentive beyond the rare opportunity offered them to be a part of the looming change.

It expressed the hope that the double defectors will declare the blood money they have collected from the PDP to those who voted them into office, and also pretend to be democratic by sharing the money with them.

''Nigerians can now see why their country has gone broke; why the allocation to states from the Federation Account has continued to dwindle, and why infrastructures have either remained decrepit or non-existent. It is not difficult to imagine the number of boreholes that 10 million dollars can sink, or how far such a huge amount will go in building cottage hospitals and health clinics.

''Things are bound to get worse in the days ahead because the desperate PDP will, more and more, use public funds to try to change the course of history. We therefore urge Nigerians to remain resolute in the face of what will be a wave of inducements never before seen in these climes, because there is no going back on the plan to vote out the PDP next year and save Nigeria from a rapacious and inept leadership,'' APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

Interim National Publicity Secretary

All Progressives Congress (APC)

Lagos, Feb. 11th 2014