The Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday in Abuja said that more members of the All Progressives Congress were set to defect to its fold.
A statement issued by Olisa Metuh, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, said two APC state governors and some members of the National Assembly would soon declare for the ruling party.
Metuh said the expected movement to the PDP was due to “bad image and anti-democratic stance” of APC leaders.
The statement criticised the APC for attempting to deceive Nigerians by issuing fabricated statements in the media on the recent visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Chad.
It noted that the opposition party had presented former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State as being in Jonathan’s entourage to Chad, “knowing same to be completely false”.
The PDP spokesman also criticised the APC for “unfounded allegations” based on the purported claims made by an Australian, Stephen Davis, on alleged sponsors of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria.
He said: “We recall the shameful attempt to deceive Nigerians by accusing the PDP-led government of moving operatives of the Department of State Security to terrorise the people of Osun State.
“`In actual fact, the APC governor of Osun formally requested for their deployment ahead of the August 9, governorship election.
“Also the APC, in June, issued a statement wherein it alleged that a plane carrying Kano Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso to attend its rally in Ekiti was denied landing permission in Akure.
“Kwankwaso’s Director of Press Affairs later announced that the governor was at another event in Kano and had no plans to travel to Ekiti State.”
The statement further noted that the APC had earlier in the year raised the alarm that federal lawmakers were being induced with millions of dollars to defect to the PDP.
Nigerians later discovered this to be false, the statement said, and advised the public to be alert to “the trend by the APC to resort to personal attacks on those who left its fold”.
Metuh chronicled the personal attacks on Chief Tom Ikimi, former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State and a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode.
The statement accused APC leaders of working against the national interest and “making themselves a laughing stock in the eyes of international community”.
It recalled that the leadership of the opposition party visited the British House of Commons recently and were reported to have “concocted stories” detrimental to the country’s image.
“This despicable trait must be dropped and should not transcend to fabricating destructive lies capable of tarnishing the image of our own dear nation,” the statement stressed.