…Accuses APC, Presidency
By Valentine Amanze
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the invasion of the National Assembly and the seizure of the Senate mace by suspected thugs on Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
The party described the invasion as a direct assault on the legislature and bold attempt to truncate Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP alleged that the perpetrators of the national embarrassment were emboldened by series of
interference and direct attacks by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency on the institution of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate.
The opposition party lamented: “The APC has foisted on our nation an irredeemable autocracy, which has in three years of governance, gone beyond limits to force Nigerians to accept a government that has no respect for freedom and the ideals of democracy, particularly the constitutional separation of powers.
“Is it not strange that a legislative day appointed to further deliberate on the re-ordering of sequence of election will be the day that strange elements would invade the National Assembly, particularly, the hallowed chambers of the Senate, to disrupt legislative proceeding and seize the mace?” The party also alleged compromising of security in the National Assembly, paving the way for the invasion.
“The parliament, all over the world is the bastion of democracy, without which government becomes autocratic and totalitarian.
“We urge Nigerians to pause and reflect on the series of assaults on our legislature under the current dispensation; the persecution and harassment of the leaders and members of the Senate on trumped-up charges, including declaring a serving senator wanted by the Police.
“We therefore charge the National Assembly to bring forth every legislative instrument to protect itself from external aggression as well as unraveling every persons, offices and institutions that played any form of roles in this wild attempt to scuttle our hard-earned Democracy,” the party stated.
It pointed out that Nigeria has accepted democracy as the best form of governance, stressing, “Those whose adrenaline cannot accommodate democracy and its constitutionally guaranteed tenets should either shape in or be forced to conform with the best ideals of democracy.”
