ADC’s criticism of the PDP meeting in Zamfara is unfortunate, writes EMMA AGU

The statement credited to the spokesman of the African Development Congress (ADC), Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi in which he criticised the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDPGF), for holding its meeting in Zamfara State shortly after the latest mayhem by terrorists is, to say the least, both unfortunate, mischievous and the height of hypocrisy. It will be recalled that the PDPGF held its meeting in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital on Saturday, August 23, 2025. The insecurity in the state was one of the major issues addressed at the meeting and an appropriate resolution on it was captured in the communique issued by the body, at the end of the meeting. But to Bolaji Abdullahi and the ADC, the meeting should not have been held. What a travesty?

There could not have been a better time to hold the meeting. First, it afforded the Governors the opportunity to commiserate with the government and people of Zamfara State through their Governor, Dauda Lawal who, since his election, has confronted the insecurity in the state with dogged resolve and singleminded dedication. Contrary to Abdullahi’s warped thinking, what would have been out of place was for the Forum to have postponed or cancelled the meeting that had already been scheduled prior to the unfortunate incident. Rather than Abdullahi’s mischievous diatribe, the PDP Governors deserve commendation for defying the clear and present danger posed by the Zamfara environment, and all travelled to Gusau, the state capital in one vehicle, no matter the level of security attached to them.

We are aware that, through his association with the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bolaji Abdullahi has long been accustomed to the APC’s tradition of its leaders avoiding places of suffering by Nigerians, where the leaders, like Nero, would be fiddling abroad while innocent Nigerians are being slaughtered at home like dogs.

That is not the tradition of the PDP hence the governors took the right step to stand in solidarity with their colleague and the beleaguered people of Zamfara State, despite all odds and when it mattered most. Nigerians will not be deceived by the holier-than-thou posturing of Bolaji Abdullahi and his ADC contraption, a self-seeking body spearheaded by the same elements who walked out on President Goodluck Jonathan in 2013 to form the APC that has inflicted on Nigeria and Nigerians this pervasive security nightmare and unaccustomed economic disaster. Perhaps Abdullahi’s is disappointed that through the tenacity and deft manoeuvres of the Governor Bala Mohammed-led PDP Governors Forum, the PDP has emerged from its internal crisis and is now repositioned to deliver Nigerians from the stranglehold of the contrived poverty, fear and hopelessness caused by Bolaji Abdullahi and his co-travellers who, through their selfishness and insensitivity, created the mess that the PDP is poised to clear by dispatching the incumbent APC-led federal government to deserved retirement in 2027. To Bolaji Abdullahi and his accident-prone ADC, and all other detractors of the PDP, we wish to state that, to seek to score cheap political capital from the pains of the people of Zamfara State or any other part of Nigeria, for that matter, is the height of insensitivity and selfishness. Instead of that, they should tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians with a firm promise that never again would they, out of sheer hatred and selfishness, deceptively hoodwink the people onto the path of self-destruction. Finally, as a responsible and empathetic body, the PDPGF continues to commiserate with the good people of Zamfara State and all other Nigerians who have either lost their dear ones or who daily live in fear because of the present situation and pledges not to rest until Nigeria is restored to the pre-2015 era of relative abundance, peace and security.

Agu, FNGE, is the media consultant to the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum

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