Buhari’s June 12 Broadcast, A Slap on Democracy

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Press Statement

…Says President’s Silence on Violations Vindicates Our  Party’s Stance

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) describes the President Muhammadu

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Buhari’s Democracy Day address as a huge and unpardonable slap on the

face of our nation’s democratic process.

Our party stresses that President Buhari’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 the

Buhari administration has no regard for democracy and is not prepared to

uphold its tenets in our country.

The PDP notes that on the day Mr. President 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. This only goes to show that the Buhari

Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have no regard for

Chief Abiola and the essence of June 12, but only used their

nomenclature to gain selfish political capital.

It is scandalous that on a day like this, President Buhari had no

assurances on electoral reforms and credible election; 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.

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 Buhari 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.

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

Buhari was claiming that his government had secured the nation.

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.

Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan

National Publicity Secretary