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The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for his June 12 Democracy Day broadcast address, describing it as “a huge and unpardonable slap on the face of the nation’s democratic process”.
In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday, the PDP said the president’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 his administration has no regard for democracy and is not prepared to uphold its tenets in the country.
The PDP noted that “on the day Buhari 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,” the party noted. “This only goes to show that the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressive Congress (APC) have no regard for Chief Abiola and the essence of June 12, but only used their nomenclature to gain selfish political capital.”
The PDP condemned the president for not giving any assurance on elcetoral reforms, 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,” the party noted.
“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 @MBuhari 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.”
The party further condemned the president’s remark on insecurity, stating while criminal bandits were busy wrecking havoc in various parts of the country, even on the eve of his broadcast to the nation, Buhari claimed “his government had secured the nation”.
“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 @MBuhari was claiming that his government had secured the nation,” said the PDP.
“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”.
