The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday questioned the legality of shifting the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari from May 29 to June 12, 2019. The tenure of President Buhari ends on May 28, 2019, while the new president is expected to be inaugurated on May 29, 2019.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Tuesday derided the President Muhammadu Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for thinking that moving major events of its planned Presidential inauguration from May 29 to June 12, the Democracy Day, can confer any form of legitimacy on the outcome of the rigged 2019 Presidential election.
The PDP asserted that inviting world leaders to the inauguration cannot confer international recognition for a stolen mandate.
The PDP declared: “It is clear that the Buhari Presidency and the APC, being tormented by the guilt of violating our electoral processes, can no longer boldly approach the oath book on May 29, due to the burden of illegitimacy and now seeks refuge in the sanctity of June 12, our Democracy Day.
“The Buhari Presidency and the APC from our recent history have demonstrated that they totally averse to democracy. They should, therefore, steer clear of our Democracy Day, having violated all our democratic ethos in manipulating the Presidential election and upturning the mandate of the people; the same injustice which Chief MKO Abiola, the symbol of June 12, fought and died for.
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“Chief Abiola stood and died for democracy. Any attempt, therefore, to schedule any event related to the outcome of the rigged 2019 Presidential election on June 12 would be an open desecration of the sanctity of the Democracy day and a direct assault to the sensibilities of Nigerians.”
The PDP subsequently declared its rejection of “this absurd desperation by the Buhari Presidency and the APC to overshadow the import of our Democracy Day and stifle the quest by Nigerians to vent their anger against the democratic violations of the APC administration in the last four years.”
The statement further read: “The PDP counsels the Buhari Presidency to note that trying to seize our Democracy Day cannot confer legitimacy to a rigged election, neither can it erase the litany of violations including human rights abuses, assault on democratic institutions, particularly the Legislature and the Judiciary; clamp down on opposition figures, clipping of the media, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal detention of citizens, and the rigging of the 2019 Presidential election.
“The PDP wants the Buhari Presidency and the APC to understand that what is paramount to majority of Nigerians now is the retrieval of the stolen mandate, which they freely gave to Atiku Abubakar, at the tribunal so that our nation can enjoy the values of freedom, justice, fairness and equity embedded in our constitutional democracy.”