Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, charged the Presidency and All Progressives Congress (APC) to take responsibility for the killing of protesters by security operatives at the Lekki Toll Gate, in Lagos, Tuesday night.
The party said unleashing terror on peaceful protesters “exposes a dangerous recourse to barefaced brutality, violence and killing to suppress and subjugate the Nigerian people.”
In a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the buck stops at President Buhari’s table and that the right response from him would have averted the ongoing crisis.
“Our party is however shocked at President Buhari stance, particularly his inability to demonstrate the capacity for concerned, attentive and proactive governance and command structure, while the nation he presides over dangerously slides into anarchy. A well structured governance response from Mr. President, as the father of the nation, would have calmed frayed nerves and averted the crisis, violence, deaths, destruction of property and the avoidable loses we are witnessing today.”
The PDP also expressed the fear that the country was on the brink of collapse.
“It is indeed heartrending that our once united, viable, resilient and cohesive nation handed over to President Buhari in 2015 is fast collapsing in his hands. In countries where presidents are alive to the demands of their offices, the country would not be in turmoil with citizens being murdered in cold blood as witnessed in our country in the last 48 hours, yet the citizenry cannot find their president or Prime Minister coming out personally to offer consolation, provide direction and give hope.
“Moreover, the video showing police vans and vehicles belonging to other security agencies bringing in and coordinating armed thugs to attack peaceful protesters in Abuja points to serious complicity in high places.
“The APC and its agents in government circles had kept mute over reports in the public space that they are behind the deployment of the armed thugs to infiltrate peaceful protests and perpetrate acts of violence so as to discredit the demonstration and justify their attacks on protesters, a development that had led to escalation of restiveness in various parts of our country…
“Today, under the APC, our streets are stained with the blood of our promising young ones. Our highways have been turned into battlegrounds where thugs and security operatives mow down citizens and destroy property with reckless abandon.”
Credit: The Sun