by Joe Adams The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has describes the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day address as a huge ...
by
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has describes the
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day address as a huge and unpardonable
slap on the face of the nation's democratic process.
The party in a statement on Friday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, stressed 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 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." the party noted
"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."
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