Jacinta Chisom OguadinmaThe Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, saying they have desecrated democratic principles, legacies, and values that the late Chief MKO Abiola laboured and died for.
The PDP stated this in a statement posted on its official X handle on Tuesday, ahead of the June 12 Democracy Day celebration.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Party urged Nigerians to use the occasion of this year’s Democracy Day to speak against the anti-democratic tendencies of the ruling APC which it said is asphyxiating, inflicting hardship, and trampling on the rights of the citizens, while seeking to foist a totalitarian system on the nation.
According to the statement, “It is distressing that our nation is observing Democracy Day under a system that relishes in brazen violation of the Constitution, election rigging, stifling and manipulation of opposition, muzzling of dissenting voices; undermining the judicial system and other democracy institutions in desperation to turn Nigeria into a one-party State.”
“More disquieting is that all the progress and gains made by successive PDP administrations in entrenching democratic practice in Nigeria have been reversed by the APC administrations. Nigerians can recall with nostalgia the glorious days of the PDP at the return of Democracy in 1999 to 2015, which period witnessed the expansion of democracy practice and dividend; notably the conduct of free and fair elections; adherence to the Rule of Law and Principle of Separation of Powers, economic transformation resulting in Nigeria becoming a preferred foreign investment destination in the world.”
The PDP also claimed that the privatization and commercialization policy brought in place when the party was in government liberalized the Nigerian economy and the consequential improvement in the fortune of the citizens.
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The party made it known that Democracy is all about the supremacy of the Will of the People, the Rule of Law, and the pursuit of the security and well-being of citizens and that these ideals have been completely violated by the APC administration whose leaders have no respect for public opinion but delight in burdening the people through multiple taxes and looting of treasury to finance their luxury appetite while subjecting other Nigerians to a life of fear, uncertainty, despondency and abject poverty.
“It is saddening that instead of celebrating freedom and good governance; the very essence of democracy that Chief MKO Abiola stood for; Nigerians are in anguish over the exploitative, ill-implemented anti-people policies and programs of the APC which has weaponized poverty in the country.”
“The increase in fuel price and hike in electricity tariff with no corresponding tangible policy or program directed towards the welfare of the people further show the anti-people stance of the APC administrations. Today, under the APC, prices of food, medicines, and other essential commodities increase uncontrollably and are soaring beyond reach.”
In Light of Nigerian Concerns, the party asked: “Is it not provocative that while APC leaders are relishing in opulence, other Nigerians cannot afford their daily meals and other basic necessities of life?”
The party also drew attention to the recent opening of the N21 billion luxury mansion for Vice President Kashim Shettima by President Tinubu, which is not recommendable in a country of collapsing infrastructure with over 40 per cent unemployment rate and where millions of citizens are literally starving, and where our schools and hospitals lack the basic operation equipment and tools is only a glimpse into the insensitivity, arrogance, impunity and reckless misdirection of resources that pervade the APC administrations.
The Party urged President Tinubu to use the occasion of Democracy Day to have a deep reflection on the state of the nation under his watch, especially given the growing public agitation over hunger and high cost of living in the country.
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