From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed the attack on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally in Kaduna was caused by those rented to grace the event and failure to settle them with agreed sums.
The claims came after the Federal Government disassociating itself from the attack.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said though it abhors the attack and all forms of violence, what happened in Kaduna was self-inflicted.
Morka while absolving APC from the violence, however, said it was wrong for PDP to have fixed its rally on the same day its presidential candidate was scheduled to appear at the Arewa Dialogue in Kaduna.
“The ugly event that unfolded at the rally of the PDP in Kaduna last Monday was wrong, but regrettably self-inflicted. As a party, we abhor and condemn any and all forms of violence and interference in the activities or events of any political party.
“Every party is entitled to conduct their legitimate activities in peace and security. And every party has a right to equal protection of the law. Perpetrators of disruptive and other acts of violence must be brought to justice.
“However, the PDP has no one but itself to blame for the violent incident at its rally in Kaduna. The incident was simply a matter of a rented crowd that went irate when the party’s rent-a-crowd managers disappeared with funds meant to pay for the rented crowd.
“Rather than hold its head down in shame for the poor and distasteful showing at its Kaduna rally, the PDP seeks to scapegoat our party for its own gross acts and misconduct. To be clear, the APC has no hand in the attack as irresponsibly alleged by the PDP. We have no reason to be perturbed by the rally.”