Stop engaging in acts capable of threatening nation’s democracy, PDP tells APC

By Lateef Ibrahim

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday alerted Nigerians and lovers of democracy all over the world on what it called a very dangerous design by the governing All Progressives Congrezs, APC ,which it said is inimical to the survival of the nation’s hard-earned democracy and her stability.
The opposition party pointed out that the APC, having realized that its chances of winning the 2019 elections are getting slimmer by the day has now resorted to a vicious plot to physically attack its members and offices, as well as deploying force and orchestrated violence in an attempt to destabilize its structure across the country.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who raised the alarm at a press conference in Abuja, said further that the APC, in its desperation to cling to power has finally commenced its onslaught against the democratic order.
The PDP claimed that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals to freely associate is now under attack even as the nation is being pushed to the brinks.
According to Ologbondinyan, “Also we bring to the attention of the world, the various constitutional violations of the APC; her unrelenting persecution, arrests, detention and harried trial of opposition members as well as perceived opponents of government, including innocent business concerns, all in line with the grand plot to discredit and stifle opposition in Nigeria.
“As you may be aware, on Sunday January 21, 2018, the APC unleashed terror on the PDP by sending its agents under the instructions of the Borno state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, to demolish the PDP secretariat along Dandal Way in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
“This horrendous, beastly and hateful act of desperation is a direct assault on our nation’s democracy, a gross effrontery against the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended, and further exposes the intensity of the fear and trepidation in the APC over the reawakened popularity of the PDP ahead of the 2019 elections.
“It is already in the public domain that the APC government in Borno state, for fear of the increasing popularity of the PDP, had mounted pressure on the owner of the building to eject our party, but frustrated by the refusal of the landlord, the governor issued a revocation of the Certificate of Occupancy on the property and immediately instructed the agents of his government to demolish a house belonging to a citizen without any authorization of a court of competent jurisdiction.
“We invite all lovers of democracy in Nigeria and across the world to note and collectively condemn this height of callousness from a government that vainly prides itself as the product of a progressive party.
“Nigerians have not forgotten the political tension created by the APC in PDP strongholds in various states, including the recent attacks on our members, such as the attack on those holding a lawful meeting in Idanre, Ondo State.”