– PDP praises acting President over action
Social Democratic Party, SDP, National Chairman and a former Secretary to the Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae, has Falae who called for punishment for any erring public officers in the country, and particularly anyone found culpable in Tuesday’s invasion of the National Assembly by security operatives.
He reacted just as his People’s Democratic Party, Pdp, Prince Uche Secondus , praised the acting President for firing Daura over the siege.
According to hFalae: “Every public officer that forgets that he is a public officer not to serve political parties but the people should be dealt with accordingly. They may be in power but they must remain non-partisan.”
He stated this in Akure, Ondo State capital, after the state congress of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), where he commended the acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo for saking the Directorate of State Security, DSS, Lawal Daura, over what he described as a rape on the constitution.
His words: “If a public functionary did what was a rape on the constitution, I think the acting President did what was right.
“Every public officer that forgets that he is a public officer not to serve political parties but the people should be dealt with accordingly. They may be in power but they must remain non-partisan.”
He described Daura’s sack as a welcome development to save the nation’s democracy from total collapse.
The acting President’s action, he said, has helped to stabilise Nigerian polity and saved the nation’s democracy from total collapse.
On the alliance of SDP with other 39 political parties in the country to oust President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s general election, Falae said the coming together of the parties became imperative because of the terrible situation confronting the nation.
He said: “The purpose of the alliance is regime change. The regime has been unable to protect the lives and properties of its citizens.
“If 40 parties are together, it will be a deterrent to rigging of the APC. The joint candidate may not come. It may come from any of the smaller political parties.”
He, however, said that the alliance should not be seen as PDP show, noting that similar coalition was formed in Senegal and Gambia where credible Presidential candidates emerged and won elections.
“This alliance is about producing a joint president by all the parties and not to join in the production of PDP candidate, but to produce a joint presidential candidate.
“We cannot merge or be absorbed by any political party. It does not follow that PDP would produce a joint presidential candidate, it may not even come from any of the political parties in or out of the alliance.
“The terrible situation that confronts us in Nigeria is the reason we all agreed to come together. Ordinarily, everybody will like to win the presidency by itself.
“We now recognize that it is much easier to win the election if we form an alliance. I did mention that two other African countries have done what we are planning to do; Senegal and Gambia and that in both cases the alliance parties did not choose their candidates from the biggest opposition party among the alliance. They picked their candidate from the party that has a better brand and they won the election.
Falae, however, stated that SDP will contest all elections including the nomination of the joint presidential ticket, saying personal interest would be ironed out in the alliance saying “there was a personal interest in Gambia; there was a personal interest in Senegal. I don’t know how the candidate will emerge, but we will work it out.
The Chairman of SDP in the state, Chief Korede Duyile, decried the use of money to induce voters during elections in the country.
He said “what we now have in the country is money trick, not politics. Those stealing money from the public are using the money to buy votes. Time is coming when people will vote for integrity. That time, we will be the party to vote.”
He, however, said the elective congress organised by the party in the state is to accommodate those who joined the party and fill the positions of those who have defected from the party.
– Secondus hails Osinbajo for rescuing Nigerians from cabals
Also, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, saluted the courage of the Vice President in sacking Daura; saying the move was “to show that Nigeria cannot be hijacked and ruled by cabals.”
In a statement issued by his media adviser, Ike Abonyi, in Abuja on Tuesday, the party boss also alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari and former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, hatched the final plan for the siege on the National Assembly during Akpabio‘s visit to the President in London.
He, therefore, urged the United Kingdom where Buhari is currently spending his holiday to expel him.
Secondus alleged that the President “is hiding in that country to plan the undermining of democracy in the country.”
He said that Britain should not allow her environment to be turned into a haven for anti-democracy conspirators.
The main opposition party boss alleged that “the President left the country to the UK for 10 days medical leave to enable the nefarious activities they lined out against democracy be executed in his absence.”
According to Secondus, the siege to the National Assembly “leaves no one indoubt that President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling APC are out to destroy this hard-earned democracy all because they can no longer fit into it.”
He maintained that democrats all over the World do not need any further evidence to show that President Buhari and APC have suspended democracy and are now running a draconian administration.
The statement added: “When an executive arm in a democratic setting muscles up other arms of government, the correct name for such administration is autocracy and dictatorship.
“Nigerians and the international community have continuously watched this administration harass and intimidate the Legislature and Judiciary as well as others in opposition in their bid to create a dictatorial regime.
“All over the world, the parliament is the bastion of democracy and rule of law. Anybody not willing to align himself to them is trying to create anarchy in the land.”
Secondus said that the action of the security agencies on Tuesday “clearly shows a drowning man who is totally alienated from happenings around his environment and suddenly wants to survive when the ship is already wrecked.”
He then called on President Buhari to resign and pave way for the sustenance of democracy, adding that no amount of intimidation and harassment will deter lovers of democracy from pushing for the extinction of this allegedly wicked regime.
He noted that Nigerians passed through this route before in their struggle to restore democracy in this country and the will of the people and that of the Almighty prevailed and this time cannot be an exception.
“We are aware that when a regime exhausts idea of what to do and loses the legitimacy that brought it to power, it could be dangerous like a bull in China shop but truth is that Nigeria will survive this regime and laugh last.
The PDP boss called on the global democratic community to rein in President Buhari to allow other arms of government to operate and allow democracy and rule of law to prevail.
Nigerian Tribune
