The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued a blistering indictment of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing it of orchestrating a calculated and dangerous plot to plunge Nigeria into a one-party dictatorship, systematically dismantling democratic institutions and undermining the Constitution.
In a fiery Democracy Day statement released on Thursday, June 12, and signed by Hon. Debo Ologunagba, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, the main opposition party described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration as “brazenly anti-democratic, shockingly unaccountable, and ruthlessly repressive.”
The PDP alleged that under Tinubu’s leadership, the APC is aggressively weaponising poverty, suffocating dissent, emasculating opposition voices, and compromising critical pillars of democracy — including the judiciary, the National Assembly, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) — in a bid to tighten its grip on power and erase all political competition.
“The continuing state capture under the APC is a harrowing sign of Nigeria’s gradual descent into a full-blown authoritarian regime,” the PDP warned.
Citing recent developments, including the controversial imposition of a Sole Administrator in Rivers State and the ongoing political unrest in Edo State ahead of the 2024 governorship election, the PDP condemned what it called the APC’s deliberate sabotage of democratic processes.
“The Rivers situation is a constitutional aberration — a direct assault on Nigeria’s democracy,” the statement emphasized.
According to the PDP, the APC’s actions reflect a deeply rooted disdain for the tenets of democracy and an unrelenting obsession with power consolidation at all costs. The party accused the Presidency of colluding with a “rubber-stamp National Assembly” and “compromised judicial officers” to pave the way for what it described as “a hostile takeover of Nigeria’s democratic space.”
The PDP further charged that these maneuvers are not only unconstitutional but also betray the legacy of the late Chief MKO Abiola, whose annulled 1993 presidential election is commemorated on June 12 as Democracy Day.
“It is an irony of monumental proportions that the same day set aside to honour the democratic sacrifice of Chief Abiola is being desecrated by a government actively working to destroy the values he died for,” the party lamented.
The PDP called on Nigerians, democratic institutions, civil society groups, international partners, and pro-democracy advocates to rise in unison and resist what it described as “an impending descent into tyranny.”
“The PDP urges all well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of democracy to use the occasion of June 12 to reawaken their consciousness and unite against the creeping totalitarianism of the APC,” the statement read.
The opposition party accused the Tinubu-led administration of presiding over an unprecedented erosion of civil liberties, orchestrating attacks on the press, suppressing political opposition, and institutionalizing a culture of fear and silence through poverty and coercion.
“The APC government has turned the instruments of the state into weapons of oppression — manipulating elections, stifling the media, and converting public institutions into political tools to impose a defeatist and servile population,” the PDP declared.
In conclusion, the party demanded an immediate halt to the assault on the Constitution, the restoration of rule of law, accountability in governance, and the protection of Nigeria’s democracy from what it termed “a cabal determined to turn the country into a personal estate.”
PIONEER NEWS 