By Kevwe Ebireri

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has blamed Monday’s explosion in Abuja on the leadership of the opposition party, All Progressives Congress, APC, and its governors who desperately seek to undermine and discredit the present administration by making the country ungovernable.

However, in its own reaction to the attack in Nyanyan, Abuja, the APC has called for the convening of a national security summit to brainstorm and come up with strategies to deal with the present challenges.

National publicity secretary of the ruling PDP, Olisa Metuh, said that the party was shocked and grief-stricken since it received the news of the gruesome attack which it described as barbaric, monstrous and extremely wicked.

While hospital sources have confirmed 71 persons dead, and 124 others injured, eyewitnesses put the death-toll at more than 200 persons.

The PDP insists that attacks on innocent citizens which have persisted since 2009 and defied all preventive measures, are politically motivated by unpatriotic persons, especially those in the APC, who have been making utterances and comments promoting violence and blood-letting as a means of achieving political control.

“Nigerians are also aware of utterances by certain APC governors which have been aimed at undermining our security forces and emboldening insurgents against the people. Those who have been promoting violence through their utterances can now see the monster they have created,” Metuh alleged.

The party urged Nigerians to stand up and join President Goodluck Jonathan in his untiring efforts to check terrorism in the country, and cautioned those fuelling the attacks to retrace their steps and rid themselves of bitterness and desperation.

But the opposition on the other hand has urged the Federal Government to urgently convene a national stakeholders’ security summit to help find a lasting solution to the spate of mindless killings in the country, as efforts so far have not yielded the desired positive results.

Interim national publicity secretary of the APC, Lai Mohammed, said in the national interest and in the spirit of bipartisanship, the party is willing to be part of any positive efforts to end the daily loss of lives and the damage to property that seem to have hit a new high since the beginning of this year.

”It is time for new thinking, new ideas to stop this insurgency before it consumes all of us. The attack, right on the outskirts of Abuja which has been spared this kind of spectacular strike since 2011 means those behind it are getting bolder and bolder, and it’s time to stop them,” the APC said.

It, however, described as despicable the PDP’s attempt to trivialise issues by blaming the opposition for thesituation, saying “the PDP and the government it leads at the centre should realize that this issue is beyond politics and partisanship, and should reach out to other stakeholders to help find a way to end the insurgency that has now defied all measures, including a state of emergency.”

”Trying to blame the opposition for the attack, as the hare brained PDP has irresponsibly done even when the bodies of the victims are still lying in the morgue, cannot advance a genuine push to end the insurgency,” the APC said.