PDP takes protest to EU, UN, France

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday resumed its protest in Abuja, calling on the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and France to intervene in what the party described as the ruination of democracy and miscarriage of justice in the country.

In petitions submitted to the EU and UN offices and the French embassy, the PDP urged France and the international bodies to prevail on the Federal Government to preserve democratic institutions and the sanctity of the ballot.

The party leaders, who were led in the protest by the Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Suleiman, took off from the party’s campaign headquarters, Legacy House, in the Maitama district.

They were received by officials of the EU, UN and the French embassy. Addressing journalists after the submission of the petitions, Nazif bemoaned what he described the intimidation of the legislative and judicial arms by the executive.

Nazif said the situation has eroded the integrity and credibility of the electoral process, citing the recent Supreme Court judgment on the Imo election and governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states as some of the few cases.

Nazif said, “We are not happy, we are not satisfied with the way democracy is being run in Nigeria. We have come here to complain because we have realised that the National Assembly is being intimidated by the executive.

“The judiciary is being arm twisted, the rule of law has become mockery and we thought it wise to come and lay our complaint because they no longer listen to anybody.

“That is why the PDP decided to reach out to the international community to lay complaint with respect to the Electoral Act that has not been accented to up till now. This is five years since the inception of this administration.

“You are aware of the systematic collapse in our electoral processes, the way elections are being conducted. In Kogi, we saw what transpired in the last election. Nigerians have seen for themselves what the opposition party is going through.

“We saw what happened in Bayelsa. We saw what happened in Imo with respect to the Supreme Court judgement and we are calling for a review of that judgement and we believe that with the amount of pressure from intentional organisations, I think the right thing should be done”.

The party’s National Secretary, Senator Umar Tsauri, who also addressed newsmen, complained that democracy was being derailed in the country.

Tsauri listed the media, the electoral umpire, security agencies, judiciary and the international community as the five pillars upon which democracy is built.

He, however, said three of the pillars – security agencies, electoral umpire and the judiciary have collapsed, leaving only the media and the international community standing.

The PDP scribe said, “Out of the five, only two are left. Election umpire is compromised, you all know it. Security agents are part and parcel of the APC government. Judiciary is being threatened and no body has any confidence in the judiciary again.

“The only ones that are now left are the media and the international community. The international community, any where there is going to be election, they send their monitors, they go and monitor, they bring in their reports, most of these reports are negative.

“This is why we came to the international community to tell them that this is the expectations of Nigerians from them and we want them to do exactly what is expected of them to do.

“In Nigeria today, if you talk about security, it is zero. When Buhari came into government, he said that he is going to fight corruption, he was going to intensify on economy and then security. None is working now. This government does not listen to any voice except the international community, that is why we are here”.

Officials of the international bodies and the embassy declined comments.

The PDP had, penultimate week, staged a similar protest at the United States and the British embassies where they also delivered protest letters.

Some party chieftains that participated in the protest were members of the National Working Committee (NWC), members of the National Assembly among others.