Abuja, June 14, 2014 (NAN) The PDP has called on the new National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun, and other elected officials, to ensure a vibrant opposition.

This call is contained in a statement issued by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Saturday.

The statement urged them to eschew bitterness, desperation and divisive tendencies.

It congratulated Oyegun, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and other newly elected officials on their emergence at their party’s National Convention.

The statement also charged the new APC’s leadership to ensure issue-based opposition that would purposefully and constructively engage and challenge the PDP.

This, it added, should be done with decency and maturity in consonance with democratic tenets and principles.

It stressed that Nigerians deserved a vibrant and patriotic opposition driven only by national interest.

It further charged the new APC leadership to put the unity and welfare of Nigerians ahead of other considerations.

It also urged the party to jettison all divisive tendencies including unguarded statements that overheat the polity.

The statement, however, maintained PDP’s pre-eminent position and widest acceptance among Nigerians and across the board.

It stressed that APC`s news leadership posed no threat to the PDP.

The statement added that the ruling PDP remained the only party that had continued to be committed to national interest.

It held that PDP was the only party that had provided level playing ground for Nigerians to achieve their political aspirations irrespective of religion, ethnicity and gender.

– NAN