U.S. Wants to Destabilise Nigeria

As Ruling Party Alleges Anti-Yar'Adua Meeting in Ghana PDP -

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the United States government and its embassy in Nigeria of conspiracy and plotting with opposition groups to destabilise the country.

Specifically, the party said that part of the plot is for the US Embassy to organise a meeting between the pro-democracy groups in Nigeria and President Barack Obama in Ghana, where the groups would seek to persuade the US President that the administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua is "illegitimate".

President Obama is expected in Ghana on July 11.

The statement also said the masterminds of the "conspiracy and plot" include a "failed" presidential candidate, two former Speakers, a former Senate President and "a sprinkling of political hangers-on".

In a statement signed by the Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Bello Harilu Mohammed, the party said: "Incontrovertible information available to us also revealed that after their meeting in Kaduna, they approached the American Embassy to facilitate their plans to meet with President Obama in Ghana but they were advised to include civil society organisations in their proposed diabolical delegation as a way of portraying themselves as credible elder statesmen."

PDP also said the aim of the visit to see Obama is to disrupt the existing trade relations between the United States and Nigeria, thereby worsening the already precarious state of the economy in the face of dwindling oil revenue and the global financial meltdown.

PDP urged the US "not to, by any acts of omission or commission, promote the evil plans of these unpatriotic politicians against a democratically elected government as such would raise questions about its respect for the sovereignty of other countries and the international doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs of other sovereign nations."

The party said President Obama knows that due process and the rule of law are cardinal tenets of democracy and acceptable political behaviour anywhere in the world.

"President Obama is a product of an electoral process that evolved over time just as our President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has kick-started enduring electoral reforms in Nigeria, a process which his Administration is fully committed to fulfil (fulifilling) in the shortest possible time. The advent of the Obama era is therefore a necessary tonic to our on-going electoral reforms and the development of strong democracies in Nigeria, Africa and other developing countries," PDP said.

The party also said the attempt by Nigeria's political leaders to cause "incalculable damage" to the Nigerian economy and its peace-loving people at this critical time is "a disservice" to a country from which most of them who have held one political office or another in the immediate past and have immensely benefited.

"It is indeed shameful that these dishonourable politicians did not realise that the advice given to them by the American Embassy to include civil society organisations in their team was actually exposing their irrelevance to the political process as such views are only worthy of consideration if expressed through a respectable forum as a civil society organisation," the statement stated.

PDP described as disturbing that "the American Embassy in Nigeria has chosen to lend itself to such a high-level political conspiracy against the Government and people of Nigeria while at the same time enjoying the hospitality of its host.

"This, to us, is hair-raising and we urge the relevant authorities in the United States to commence investigations although we are mindful that the Embassy may have been misguided by the calibre of the people involved in this plot. But we hasten to note that we do not expect the Embassy to be involved willy-nilly in such an organised conspiracy against the political and economic well-being of the Nigerian nation."

PDP also appealed to organisers of the meeting with President Obama to shun acts capable of undermining the nation's democracy which could endanger the collective destiny of Nigerians.

According to the statement, "this time in our history calls for total dedication to the growth and development of our nation. All divisive tendencies should be discouraged. Promoters of chaos and violence should be taken from our midst and handed over to security agencies. This is the only way to go."

PDP called on security agencies in the country to wade in immediately and commence necessary investigation into the matter and several others "which we have exposed in the past".