Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to address Nigerians on Democracy Day. May 29 is observed as Democracy Day in Africa’s most populated nation. The day also marks Buhari’s third year in office as Nigeria’s commander in chief.
And Buhari, who took over from PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan on 29 May, 2015, after defeating him in that year’s general election, is expected to address the nation on what his administration has achieved so far. But the PDP believes the President has failed to fulfil his promises and as such should not address Nigerians.
“Nigerians have become frustrated and despondent by the magnitude of lies and deception told by the Buhari Presidency and the APC and would prefer to spend the next twelve calendar months contending with such past deceptions than fresh falsifications,” the PDP said in a statement.
The PDP also accused the current administration and the APC of violating ”all tenets of democracy, trampled on citizens’ rights” since assuming power.
It said, “Indeed, this administration should not come close to the emblem of democracy, as such would be an unpardonable spat on the faces of millions of suppressed Nigerians and the graves of victims of extra-judicial executions under this administration, as catalogued by international bodies including, Transparency International (TI), Amnesty International (AI) and even the United States Department of State.”
It also claim, “Nigerians are today groaning in regret for electing an administration that has completely turned against them, engaging in clampdown with utmost impunity, setting aside our constitutional provisions and desecrating all democratically established institutions.
“We ask: How can Nigerians celebrate Democracy Day when the rights of citizens are daily trampled and they no longer enjoy their freedom to politically associate and aspire, as was the order under the PDP rule?
“Where is democracy when government tends towards military fiat: where citizens are wantonly arrested, locked up and dehumanized just for expressing political opinions considered to be at variance with views held those in power?”
