Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)’ ‘snatch, grab and run’ agenda of opposition parties’ mandates is inimical to democracy.
Atiku in a statement issued Monday by Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, said eternal vigilance remains the watch word if Nigeria’s democracy would survive the APC onslaught and the institutions that are supposed to check the excesses of the ruling party.
He stressed that the ideal notion of democracy does not just reside in a representative government but essentially rooted in the plurality of ideas, adding that for a system to be seen as truly democratic, it must necessarily accommodate opposition and opposing views.
Atiku noted: “Sadly and suddenly, we have seen a trend whereby the range of opposition engagement continues to be narrowed by the ruling party in Nigeria.
“Either through the electoral process where opposition parties are rigged out with brazen impunity, or during the post election court processes where the judiciary is conspicuously doing the biddings of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), it has become increasingly apparent that the democracy in Nigeria is in a state of ill-health.
“It gets more curious that all the states where the courts have made controversial declarations are states being controlled by the opposition political parties. From Kano, Zamfara and now to Plateau State, where we are witnessing a situation in which what the ruling party missed out on election day are being delivered to them through the courts.”
The former vice president noted that these are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just the faith in the electoral and judicial system but evincing that the country’s democracy is compromised.
He said it was also crystal clear that the ruling party would not desist from this inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power.’
Atiku added: “It is even more worrisome that what is playing out now in the Plateau governorship election petition is a confirmation of the threat echoed by an APC lawmaker in a viral video that the ruling party will compromise the judicial process to ensure its ultimate victory in the courts.
“It, therefore, means that the times we are in are indeed ominous, and the journey ahead in rescuing our democracy from these buccaneering power grabbers is a long one. It also means that every man and woman of good conscience should come together for this common patriotic purpose.”