•Says APC’s ‘snatch, grab and run’ agenda of opposition parties’ mandates inimical to democracy
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Monday raised the alarm that it has become increasingly apparent that the democracy in Nigeria is in a state of ill-health.
Alhaji Atiku raised the alarm in a statement by his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe in Abuja.
The former Vice President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007, pointedly declared that it has also become crystal clear that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will not desist from its inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power’.
Atiku, however, declared that eternal vigilance remains the watch word if Nigeria’s democracy will survive the APC onslaught on the country’s democracy and the institutions that are supposed to check the excesses of the ruling party.
He noted that the whole situation gets more curious that all the states where the courts have made controversial declarations in the country are states being controlled by the opposition political parties.
Atiku referred to Nassarawa, Kano, Zamfara and Plateau States, “where we are witnessing a situation in which what the ruling party missed out on Election Day are being delivered to them through the courts”.
These, according to him, are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just Nigerians faith in the electoral and judicial system, but evincing that the nation’s democracy is compromised.
The PDP presidential candidate said, “The ideal notion of democracy does not just reside in a representative government but essentially rooted in the plurality of ideas.
“Thus, for a system to be seen as truly democratic, it must necessarily accommodate opposition and opposing views.
“Sadly and suddenly, we have seen a trend whereby the range of opposition engagement continues to be narrowed by the ruling party in Nigeria.
“Either through the electoral process where opposition parties are rigged out with brazen impunity, or during the post election court processes where the judiciary is conspicuously doing the biddings of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Itt has become increasingly apparent that the democracy in Nigeria is in a state of ill-health.
“It gets more curious that all the states where the courts have made controversial declarations are states being controlled by the opposition political parties. From Nassarawa, Kano, Zamfara and now to Plateau State, where we are witnessing a situation in which what the ruling party missed out on Election Day are being delivered to them through the courts.
“These are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just our faith in the electoral and judicial system but evincing that our democracy is compromised.
“It is also crystal clear that the ruling party will not desist from this inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power.’
“It is even more worrisome that what is playing out now in the Plateau governorship election petition is a confirmation of the threat echoed by an APC lawmaker in a viral video that the ruling party will compromise the judicial process to ensure its ultimate victory in the courts.
“It, therefore, means that the times we are in, are indeed ominous, and the journey ahead in rescuing our democracy from these buccaneering power grabbers is a long one.
“It also means that every man and woman of good conscience should come together for this common patriotic purpose.
“But we are not surprised by what is going on. In Lagos State where Tinubu holds sway as godfather, opposition became an anathema. Everyone including judges was forced to join his party.
“The few opposition members who managed to get elected were beaten to submission including at the Lagos State House of Assembly where the sole PDP member back in 2018 was suspended and arrested for gun running but mysteriously had the charges dropped immediately after he defected to the APC”, he said.
Continuing, Atiku stated, “Recently, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) withdrew a N135bn lawsuit it had instituted against an opposition senator from Anambra State less than 24 hours after he defected to the ruling party.
“These are the crude methods that Bola Tinubu has employed in order to reduce the ranks of the opposition and consolidate his hold on power.
“Is it not mysterious that it was the same panel that sat and heard all the election petition cases from Plateau State before the Court of Appeal?
“How is it that in election cases where the PDP came first and the APC came second, the court ordered that the APC be declared winner while in elections where the PDP came first and Labour Party came second, the courts ordered a rerun in order to give the APC a chance of victory?
“As Justice Dattijo Muhammad said in his valedictory speech which has also been buttressed by Olumide Akpata, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, the judgments emanating from courts in recent times have been questionable and show obvious compromise.”
