…Condemns bloodletting, Benue crisis

By Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA- A coalition of opposition political parties in the land, has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration to learn to be tolerant of opposing views, saying there are plans to stifle opposition ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The parties which gathered on Wednesday in Abuja on the auspices of the Coalition for New Nigeria (CNN) said time has come for Nigerians to speak up against all forms of threats to the nation’s democracy.

Speaking one after the other, national chairmen of the various political parties expressed dismay that with barely seven months to the elections, monies for the procurement of some equipments were still not within the reach of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

First to speak was Alhaji Abubakar Abdulsalam, national chairman of the Labour Party, who noted that the “suffocating political atmosphere prevailing in the country today” is worrisome and disturbing.

He said: “We gathered here to deliberate on what is going on in the country and we want to alert Nigerians and the international community about the state of affairs in our dear nation. There is a grand design to stifle opposition but we are saying this must not be allowed to happen.”

Also speaking, national chairman of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Ikenga Ugochiyere noted that CNN, the umbrella body of all opposition political parties in Nigeria has uncovered moves to cripple democracy, vowing however that the opposition would resist such moves.

“Opposition leaders in the land are being haunted and we resolved to condemn this. The ruling government should provide an enabling environment for us to go into this elections in 2019.

“Today, some are being charged for armed robbery, others for gun running and all sort of offences. The people they go after are the opposition leaders. You can see the attack on the Parliament which is aimed at stifling participatory democracy.

“In 2014, people cross-carpeted and the then opposition party hailed it as victory for democracy. Today, they can’t accept that these people have the free will to decide their fate. We are saying no to the ongoing rampage on democracy” he said.

On his part, Godswill Okoye, CNN General Secretary and national chairman of the United Democratic Party, UDP, condemned what he termed the deliberate plan to starve INEC of funds, saying “The budget for the 2019 elections was only submitted a few days ago whereas INEC announced the timetable for the elections about two years ago.

“A forward-looking government should have started making preparations for the polls from the budget of 2016. We are just a month away from the announcement of the elections processes and we are just getting a budget submitted.

” We are looking at a situation where the elections may not hold and if this happens, it won’t be good for democracy. You can’t tell Nigerians that after presenting this year budget, nobody remembered that there would be elections. But monies were made available for aircrafts that would be supplied in two or three years time.”

Chika Ibeneme, chairman of the Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA) on her part, called on President Buhari to do everything possible to stop the killings going on in some parts of the country.

“There is too much bloodletting in this country. If the President and security chiefs fail to checkmate this, Nigeria will get worse in the next couple of months and ours will be worse than Rwanda.

“The suffocation of opposition political parties will truncate democracy if nothing is done about it. It appears Mr. President is not being advised about the true situation of the country. If there is going to be elections in this country, there must be peace,” she stated.

Razak Eyiowuawi of the Peoples Party of Nigerian (PPN) in his contribution, likened the crisis that engulfed the Benue state government earlier in the week as a movie, tasking all well-meaning Nigerians to save the state from “an imminent implosion.”

His words: “The greatest threat to democracy is the stifling of the opposition. The way this government is going has shown that it is out to stamp out the opposition.

“You can see the recent movie in Benue where seven lawmakers sat and were threatening to impeach the governor. We are saying this must stop. The practice of using the military, police and DSS against people must stop. President Buhari should intervene in what is going on in Benue and put a stop to all this.”