Press Statement
…Says President’s Silence on Violations Vindicates Our Party’s Stance
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describes the President Muhammadu
Buhari’s Democracy Day address as a huge and unpardonable slap on the
face of our nation’s democratic process.
Our party stresses that President Buhari’s silence on the values of
democracy as well as the myriads of violations under his watch has
further vindicated its stance and that of majority of Nigerians that the
Buhari administration has no regard for democracy and is not prepared to
uphold its tenets in our country.
The PDP notes that on the day Mr. President himself set aside to
celebrate democracy, he had no democratic scorecard to present; thereby
directly confirming that he had taken no step to uphold democratic
practice in the last five years.
Our party invites Nigerians to note that Mr. President’s speech had no
space for Chief MKO Abiola. This only goes to show that the Buhari
Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have no regard for
Chief Abiola and the essence of June 12, but only used their
nomenclature to gain selfish political capital.
It is scandalous that on a day like this, President Buhari had no
assurances on electoral reforms and credible election; which is the
hallmark of democracy.
President Buhari’s failure to express any commitments to electoral
reform in his 38-minute pre-recorded address shows that his
administration has no plans to guarantee credible elections in our
country.
Also, Mr. President had no words of assurance towards respect for our
constitution, particularly the principles of separation of powers,
federal character, equality, equity, fairness, transparency and respect
for the sensibilities of our federal structure.
Furthermore, President Buhari had no words of commitment on how to
tackle the constitutional and human rights violations under his watch,
including reported intimidation and brutalization of citizens,
disobedience to court orders, arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions,
extra-judicial killings as well as hounding of opposition and dissenting
voices.
Rather, Mr. President and his handlers sought to divert attention from
their failures and violations associated with this administration by
taking the nation on a merry-go-round of recycled false performance
claims that are not backed by any empirical or verifiable data.
By this speech, President Buhari failed to appreciate that the progress
of any nation is hinged on credible elections, equity, justice and
adherence to rule of law.
Moreover, Nigerians have been at shock that while bandits were busy
killing our compatriots in Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Borno, Kogi and
various parts of our nation, even on the eve of his broadcast, President
Buhari was claiming that his government had secured the nation.
It is even more distressing that Mr. President opted to use the COVID-19
pandemic to make excuses for the attack by the bandits even as he had no
soothing words or decisive assurances for the victims beyond a cold
passing comment lacking in expected human empathy.
The PDP however urged Nigerians not to resign to despondency or allow
the failures and violations of the APC administration to erode their
faith in our democracy but remain united in their commitment to the
stability of our nation.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
