Nigeria’s democracy in danger – PDP reports Buhari, APC to UK

[Edoman]

Nigeria’s democracy in danger – PDP reports Buhari, APC to UK
on
 January 29, 2021





The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says all is not well with Nigeria’s democracy under President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).


National Chairman, Uche Secondus, spoke on Friday when he received the British High Commission’s Political Counsellor on Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Jonathan Bacon, at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja..


Secondus lamented the state of the nation, noting that electoral reforms achieved by the PDP prior to the 2015 elections have been destroyed.

The opposition leader said for five and half years, democracy has been under “”severe stress” and critical institutions of democracy brutalized.


He noted that the judiciary, legislature and the media have been under siege, while human rights and rule of law have all been flagrantly abused.

“Though the APC administration came into power as beneficiary of a transparent and credible election conducted under the PDP, it has not been able to conduct any free and fair election.”

PDP accused the APC of abusing the electoral process and frustrating the desires and efforts of Nigerians to further amend the Electoral Act.
Secondus bemoaned the spate of insecurity and “the lack of commitment on the path of the current administration to decisively tackle the outlaws and end the mindless killings, bloodletting, kidnapping, banditry and other acts of terrorism.”




The PDP chairman expressed worry that it had reached a point where stakeholders, out of frustration, are calling on the people to defend themselves due to government failure.

On the economy, Secondus told the UK official that the APC plunged Nigeria into the worst economic hardship, owing to “incompetence, lack of clear-cut policy direction, insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians and unprecedented corruption”.


“Indeed, this is not the way our nation should be. We must come together to rescue our nation by commencing critical conversations within the ambit of the law and democratic practice to salvage the situation” he added.





In his remarks, Bacon said he was at the Wadata Plaza to meet with the PDP leadership and discuss the UK-Nigeria bilateral relations.