Posted by By HENRY CHUKWURAH, Port Harcourt on
In his quest for a stronger alliance against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 21 presidential election, former Head of State and presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), General Muhammadu Buhari, has invited presidential candidates of other parties to a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
• Seek strong alliance against PDP
In his quest for a stronger alliance against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 21 presidential election, former Head of State and presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), General Muhammadu Buhari, has invited presidential candidates of other parties to a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
He hit back at the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) saying that the manner the administration was handling the preparation for the elections smacked of criminal neglect of democratic principles of equity in the treatment of political parties.
The former head of state said that the conduct of INEC and the Federal Government over the elections was subversive of the constitution.
In an invitation letter to Vice President Atiku Abubakar and 22 presidential candidates of other political parties, minus PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Umar Yar'Adua, which he personally signed, Buhari said: "The Nigerian democracy is therefore, in a state of flux, sliding dangerously into fascism, that the falcon can no longer hear the falconer; and that things are falling apart, is the bitter truth."
"The desire of Nigerians to effect a change by voting out the current autocratic leadership in the country has become ever more passionate. Why is it that our democracy is on trial, by the managers of the electoral system, the judiciary and the stakeholders? We all know how we walked into this sordid faux pas.
We are witnesses to how one man assumed messianic toga, became impervious to advice, embarked on all manner of experiment, disobeyed court orders and squandered the enormous goodwill of the people and abundant material resources," he said in the letter.
Buhari added that the meeting was necessary as it would afford the presidential candidates the opportunity to find a solution to the problems in the polity and the nation.
Said he: "My dear compatriots, in searching for answers on how to fix Nigeria, restore our democracy, and keep Nigeria one, I wish to invite you as a presidential candidate of one of the registered national opposition parties for a crucial meeting. The emergency meeting is predicated on the truism that nobody has all the solutions or monopoly of ideas and that ‘two heads are better than one.'
"In my considered opinion, the prevailing national consensus is that elections must hold as stipulated and that the opposition must form a granite alliance to defeat the sinister intentions of a few to subvert our democracy.
"I therefore look forward to your honouring our invitation to consider this urgent national challenge."