Attempts to turn Nigeria into one party state ‘ll fail -PDP

By Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that attempts by the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to turn Nigeria into a one party state will fail.

The party deplored what it described as the deliberate muzzling of the judicial and legislative arms of government by the executive arm, describing it as recipe for dictatorship.

At its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Monday, the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, accused the APC of having laid landmines against the nation’s democracy.

According to him, the “landmines” are already exploding and the consequences are confronting everybody.

He stressed that President Muhammadu Buhari has intensified the muzzling of key democratic institutions in the country.

According to Secondus: “When President Buhari and his party began the process of muzzling the other arms of government, our party cried out and alerted the nation and indeed the international community of the brewing dictatorship.

“Here we are watching helplessly as the legislature and the judiciary are put right in the pocket of the executive. An anomaly in a democracy that makes nonsense of the separation of powers that is beautifully enshrined in the rule book to check the excesses of each arm of the government.

Read Also; PHOTOS: PDP holds NEC meeting in Abuja

“We are witnesses to the emerging dictatorial tendencies in our dear country. As we all can see, a dictator is not just on the way but has arrived the scene already.

“They have rolled out the process of establishing a one party state so as to pave the way for a full blown dictatorship.

“To allow them have their way is to abdicate our responsibility as an opposition party who has made enormous sacrifice for democracy to blossom in our country.

“At the NEC meeting ten days ago, we briefed you about the judicial abracadabra where the apex court in the land, the Supreme Court delivered a bizarre judgement on Imo state where it took our PDP’s governorship victory and handed it over to the APC candidate that came fourth.

“We are using this medium to reiterate our earlier call on the Supreme Court to tell the world where and how it got the unaccredited ghost votes it awarded to APC.

“Leaders of our great party, all of these should worry us because no democracy thrives if the legislature and the judiciary are caged as we can see”.

The party called for critical deliberation on the political situation in the country and urged the National Assembly to speed up the process of the amendment to the Electoral Act in such a way that will engender free, fair and credible electoral process.

It said that a committee had been set up to review what transpired in the 2019 general elections so as to identify key areas for electoral reforms. It added that members of the panel would be nominated from the six geopolitical zones.

The PDP dismissed calls in some quarters for the party to change its name, saying the PDP brand remained the best in the country’s political space.

The party unveiled the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the new chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.

He is replacing the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson whose tenure will be expiring in two weeks’ time.

Also at the meeting were a former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi and Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe also spoke at the meeting.

Only seven of the party’s 14 governors attended the meeting.

They were Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Bello Matawalle (Zamfara); Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Benedict Ayade (Cross River); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) Tambuwal.