Our democracy now victim of dictatorship, says Dogara

Dogara stated this in a statement made available to National Daily while reacting to statement credited to President Buhari that he has given the military and police the order to shoot anyone who snatches ballot boxes during the forthcoming general elections.

President Buhari had on Monday said: I have given the military and police the order to be ruthless. I am going to warn anybody who thinks he would lead a body of thugs in his locality to snatch boxes or to disturb the voting system; he would do it at the expense of his/her own life.”

But reacting to the statement, Dogara said such a statement clearly indicate that the country’s democracy has become the victim of a full blown dictatorship, when one considers that a democratically elected President would give a directive that is in clear violation of the laws of the land which by his oath of office he is to defend and protect.

“It is obvious that the military has been given a central role and coopted into the conduct of the election despite the fact that they have no constitutional role in our electoral process.

“In this context, we categorically deny these false claims and unnecessary blackmail and regard the President’s statement as a call for extra-judicial killings considering the fact that there are adequate provisions in our laws to address electoral offenses,” he said.

Dogara also debunked the accusation by the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the PDP was given prior notice of the postponement of the elections.

“From our position, we strongly believe that the deliberate delivery of election materials to the wrong electoral centers, cancellation of flights, and other actions that undermined the logistics arrangement of INEC were deliberately done to sabotage and manipulate the process.

“We are also aware the APC wanted the INEC chairman to conduct elections in some states and postpone in other states so as to have staggered elections. It should also be noted that the areas that would have been affected by inadequate delivery of materials were PDP strongholds

Dogara said PDP believes in a united and democratic Nigeria and will continue to do all within its means to protect the country, her people and constitution from undemocratic elements.