PDP governors say Nigeria sliding into dictatorship

The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governors have raised alarm that the nation is sliding towards a dictatorship. They said this at the end of PDP Governors’ Forum meeting in Yenagoa on Tuesday, pointing to the alleged invasion of Akwa Ibom State Government House by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS).
Two of the 13 PDP governors and four deputy governors were present at the meeting including the host, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and the chairman of the forum, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State.
Led by the chairman, Mimiko, the PDP Governors’ Forum also strongly condemned the invasion, saying it is against the spirit and practice of democracy globally.
He said the PDP governors were worried, alarmed and shocked by the desecration, describing it as an assault on democracy which spelt doom and posed a serious danger to the country’s fledgling democracy.
According to him, the invasion is an example of several ongoing attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government to stifle the PDP as the voice of opposition in the country.
Reading a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, Mimiko said the invasion was against the spirit, ethos, values and fundamental tenets of democratic norms and tradition especially with a duly elected governor in place.
“We insist that the trend must stop henceforth. No democracy survives without a viable opposition in any part of the world and we must also remember to remind the APC that they are the real beneficiaries of the liberal democratic ethos of the PDP.
“We once more advise the DSS to preoccupy itself with the task of ensuring internal security and desist from daily harassing and intimidating members of the opposition.
“We implore the international community, the civil society organisations and human rights activists to call the All Progressives Party led Federal Government to order and to insist that it respects the well entrenched democratic tradition.
“We all have a duty to prevent what looks to us like a steady slide of this country into dictatorship.”