Buhari desperate to remove Saraki, says PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the President Muhammadu Buhari-government is averse to the leadership of the senate, hence its ploy to remove Bukola Saraki, senate president, at all costs.

On Friday, the Code of Conduct Bureau ordered the arrest of Saraki for failing to appear before it to answer a 13-count charge of corruption and false declaration of assets.

Reacting, the party said with the unfolding of events, “the deliberate infractions and crass abuse of power by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC federal government, it is no longer in doubt that the nation is on a quick slide into fascism and official terrorism.”

In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, PDP stated that the Buhari-led government had exhibited trappings of despotism, including “ruling without a constitutional component of a cabinet, persistent abuse of power, undermining of democratic institutions, invasion of state government and personal houses, injecting confusion into the judiciary and hounding of individuals perceived to be against its interests”.

The party expressed worry over the “relentless onslaught against democratic institutions, especially the growing tension trailing the quest to annex the national assembly; for which the presidency had since vowed not to recognize the current senate leadership, in total disdain to the independence of the legislature and the principle of separation of powers”.

It described as a mockery of reasoning, for Buhari to condemn the recent coup in Burkina Faso while his government continues to violate the provisions of the constitution of his own country.

“Ordinarily, the intra-party squabbles within the APC, regarding leadership positions in the senate are not necessarily our concern. Also, we are not interested in whether Senate President Bukola Saraki ran for the APC Presidential ticket against President Muhammadu Buhari; or whether he ran for the senate presidency against the advice of the president and his party. Our concerns here are the prevailing executive intolerance, the undermining of the institution of the national assembly
and the overall threat to the survival of our democracy,” the PDP said.

“Whereas the PDP totally supports the fight against corruption, while reposing confidence in the judiciary to protect and preserve its sanctity, we note with grave concern, the politically induced controversies within the judiciary, as a result of the part being played by agents of the executive, especially the question of due process with respect to the roles statutorily vested on the person of an attorney-general, who is yet to be appointed, regarding proceedings in the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

“We note this dangerous trend because the presidency and the APC have not hidden their aversion to the election of Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as senate president and deputy senate president respectively, even as the fact of various moves to oust them from office, including the recent unsubstantiated allegations of forgery and harassment by the federal controlled security agencies are in the public domain.

“We call on Nigerians to be aware that the fixation on the leadership of the national assembly is part of a major step towards the appropriation of the federal legislature, so as to undermine its statutory role of checks and balances and set the stage for dictatorship in the land.

“Part of this script is to commence a major onslaught against federal lawmakers perceived to hold divergent views to those of the presidency, irrespective of party affiliations, a situation that would ensure a subdued legislature.

“Also, similar machinery has been activated for possible forceful takeover of PDP states, a plot which played out in the recent act of terrorism against democracy, in the invasion of Akwa-Ibom state government house by the Department of State Services (DSS), under the direct instructions from the presidency.

“We also recall July reprehensible invasion and sealing of Rivers local councils by the police, who also barred members of caretaker committees that were duly appointed by the state government to take charge of the councils.

“The erosion of personal freedom of citizen also came to public glare in the invasion of the home of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, against constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights and the rule of law.

“Furthermore, Nigerians are witness to the undue interferences of the Department of State Services in the activities of election tribunals in PDP controlled states of Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Abia, Taraba and others where electoral officers are being harassed, intimidated and detained, ostensibly to influence judgments against the PDP.

“We recall the show of intolerance in the venom and disparagement with which the APC-led administration in August, attacked our highly revered national leaders in the National Peace Committee, which has as members, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, respected clerics; Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kuka, retired justices of superior records, as well as other highly respected patriotic Nigerians, for daring to counsel Buhari’s government on some observed undemocratic tendencies and processes.

“It is therefore a mockery of reasoning for President Buhari to use choice words to condemn the coup in Burkina Faso whilst his government engages in brazen contravention of our own constitution, a development that is clearly derailing Nigeria from the path of order, democracy and constitutionalism.

“It is hence only appropriate that the president is called upon to focus on restoring proper democracy in Nigeria and end this drift towards dictatorship under the ‘new Sheriff’, an ominous undemocratic nomenclature introduced into our political space by the presidency.

“We invite the international community and the civil society to note that our nation is facing a defining moment for the survival of democracy. Nigeria has come to a point where citizens, irrespective of political affiliations, can no longer freely express their views. We have fast descended from an environment of personal freedom and rule of law to an environment of muffled voices and suppression.

“Whereas we remain dedicated to our commitment in providing a robust and credible opposition, constructively offering alternatives to policies and programmes of the federal government, we restate in the strongest possible terms, that we shall not be cowed to abdicate our irrevocable resolution to defend our democracy, while resisting actions inimical to the stability and unity of our dear nation.