The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has Nigerians, institutions of democracy, organised civil society, development partners and all lovers of democracy to be united in promoting democratic tenets.
The party made the call in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in Abuja on Thursday, to mark this year’s Democracy Day.
The tenets, according to Ologunagba, includes justice, the rule of law, free, fair, peaceful credible electoral process and the right of citizens particularly to freely participate in politics and governance in Nigeria.
He urged Nigerians to use the occasion of the June 12, Democracy Day, to strengthen their resistance to all forms of undemocratic practice, particularly any attempt to make Nigeria a one party state.
Ologunagba said that the democracy day embodied the struggle by Nigerians against all forms of “oppressive, despotic and lawless system driven by impunity, high level deception and anti-people tendencies”.
“It also represents the insistence by Nigerians for a system that is accountable to the people, operates on the rule of law and democratic principles of freedom, justice, fairness, equity, credible elections, national cohesion, transparency and accountability in government which Chief MKO Abiola personified and died for.
“These are the democratic values which Nigerians enjoyed under the PDP,” he said.
Ologunagba urged the National Assembly, the judiciary, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other democratic institutions in the country to assert their constitutional independence.
He also called on the democratic institutions to operate only on the basis of the rule of law and the collective interest of the people in the promotion of the tenets of democracy.
He, however, advised the All Progressives Party (APC) led administration to honour the memory of late MKO Abiola by adhering to rule of law, the principle of separation of powers, free press, and credible elections.
Ologunagba also stressed the need to allow the independence of the National Assembly and other democracy institutions, particularly INEC and the judiciary.
“The PDP, however, congratulates Nigerians on this year’s democracy day and urges them not to allow the vicious plot of any individual or group to destroy their confidence in democracy.
“They should remain law-abiding and continue to rally with the PDP as we reposition ahead of the 2027 elections to rescue our nation from the stranglehold of the APC,” he said.
