Abuja — The Presidency yesterday berated critics of the renovation of a Church at Otuoke by a contractor, saying it was done as part of the contractor's social responsibility.

The Presidency stated this just as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the call by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on the National Assembly to impeach President Goodlcuk Jonathan as "recklessly infantile".

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the Presidency said it "noted with surprise and some amusement, the patently laughable attempt by political opponents of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and their collaborators to brew up a storm in a cup over the alleged "gift" of a church to the President".

Presidency described the position of the critics on the issue as "another mischievous attempt to denigrate President Jonathan, cast unjustifiable aspersions on his personal integrity and distract him from the serious business of governance".

"For the benefit of the unwary who might be taken in by the antics of an unscrupulous opposition that has little or no regard for the truth in the pursuit of their self-serving agenda, the Presidency wishes to state emphatically that President Jonathan never solicited or received a church as "bribe" from any contractor".

"Yes, a contractor who has worked and continues to work in Bayelsa State and other parts of Nigeria, thought it fit, in fulfillment of its corporate social responsibility, to facilitate the renovation of the small church in the President's home town of Otuoke.

The statement noted that "It takes a lot of desperation to translate such act of social responsibility for which there are innumerable precedents in our country into a crime for which the usual suspects are now calling for the "impeachment" of President Jonathan.

"It is indeed ironic that the groups and individuals now castigating the President because a company freely chose to fulfill its corporate social responsibility by helping to renovate a communal place of worship, are also amongst those who constantly berate companies doing business in the Niger Delta for not doing enough to support the development of their host communities.

" Examples of such corporate assistance to communities, cities and states abound across Nigeria, saying that the President's accusers are certainly not unaware of the fact that the famous Millennium Park in Abuja was donated to the city by a construction company, but we do not recall that anyone was ever accused of receiving the park or other similar communal projects as a bribe.

"For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, the renovated church in Otuoke does not belong to President Jonathan or his family. The Church belongs to the Anglican Communion and the entire Otuoke Community. It has existed for generations and is not a new church "donated" to President Jonathan by his "contractor friend" as is being mischievously alleged.

"President Jonathan has not committed any crime or violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers by being present at the dedication of the very humble community church building and publicly acknowledging the assistance of a corporate entity in its renovation.

"Those peddling allegations to the contrary know very well that their charges are baseless and unsustainable. If they must oppose for the sake of opposition, let them desist from peddling patent falsehoods and make a greater effort to be a responsible opposition by offering intelligent and constructive criticism", the Presidency said.

Meanwhile, PDP has described the CAN call on the National Assembly to impeach President Jonathan over the church as not only recklessly infantile", but "the hallmark of a political party whose provincial obsession and pretended nationalism have left mercilessly hobbled".

In a statement by Olisa Metuh, PDP National Publicity Secretary, the party said such calls by ACN showed that it lacked alternative political idea but only those that are "destructive and jaundiced".

PDP insisted that calls by the ACN for processes that can destabilise the country, showed that the party (ACN) has a "perennial penchant for antics of destabilisation".

Metuh added in the statement that the PDP and its National Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Turkur "is deeply worried by the incessant destructive hue of an opposition , who though bereft of a credible alternative model, still struts the stage in a jaundiced illusion of a model driver of the perfect.

"The strength of any viable democracy lies in the mettle of a credible opposition. The PDP welcomes this. However, where the opposition is irresponsibly engrossed in making a mountain out of a mole hill and ceaselessly creating an imaginary tiger in the neighbourhood, it leaves no one in doubt that it is committed to a hidden agenda that neither benefits the nation nor ennobles the people.

"Let's therefore ask the ACN: 'quo agendum?' - whither your agenda?" Is it to destabilise the Federal Government and hasten the quest for a divided patria? Is it to gain what the opposition in their collective whole failed to achieve in April 2011 presidential election? Or still, is it a vengeance for the inability of the opposition to win successive five governorship elections, the nullification of some of which was achieved via judgments with questionable trends?", the party asked.

PDP demanded from the ACN a proof to Nigerians that the rehabilitation a of a Community church by a construction company, an act which ordinarily falls under community relations, has personally benefitted the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to the PDP, "it is very unfortunate that the ACN is ruffling the sensibilities of Nigerians at a material time that religion has been wrongly appropriated by unpatriotic elements to wreak chaos in parts of the nation".

The Party further warned the ACN not to distract the National Assembly.

"We are not surprised the ACN is losing sleep over the maturity and stability that the National Assembly led by our great party has gained in the last few years, much less its smooth working relationship with the executive.

"We, therefore, call on the National Assembly to disregard the ACN and remain focused in the joint effort to achieve the transformation of Nigeria," the PDP spokesman stated.