The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as sacrilegious, the violent clampdown on peaceful protesters on Democracy Day by agents of the Federal Government.
The PDP, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the clampdown was a demonstration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) aversion to democracy.
The party described as awkward that President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC leaders, who were allowed their freedom when they protested in 2014, would turn around to subject Nigerians to actions of inhumanity including the use of firearms against the people.
“It is instructive to note that President Buhari, in his supposed Democracy Day address, failed to rein in his security operatives, despite cautions by the PDP.
“This places the culpability for whatever befalls Nigerians, in the face of the violent attacks by security agencies, on the APC as well as Mr. President’s desk,” the party’ said.
The PDP said it was no surprise that in his over 20 minutes speech, President Buhari did not make any commitment “towards upholding the democratic tenets of free speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association and right to peaceful protest, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and our statutes, from which he, as APC candidate, drew huge benefit in 2014.
“Our party is cataloguing all the infringements which the APC and President Buhari are rudely imposing on Nigerians and we urge all global democratic institutions to take note of the violent infringements and clampdown on democracy in Nigeria by the APC.”
