Outcry Over APC’s ‘Grand Design To Stifle Opposition’ Ahead Of 2019

A coalition of opposition political parties in Nigeria have cried out over an alleged plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to “stifle” other parties ahead of the 2019 elections.

Speaking under the aegis of the Coalition for New Nigeria in Abuja, the opposition polical parties which include the Labour Party (AP) and the Action Peoples Party (APP), have called on the international community to save Nigeria’s democracy by stopping the alleged haunting of opposition political leaders by the ruling APC.

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Alhaji Abubakar Abdulsalam, decried the “suffocating political atmosphere prevailing in the country today” and, which he described as “worrisome and disturbing.”

Abdul Salam 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.”

Speaking also, the National Chairman of the APP, Mr Ikenga Ugochiyere, said there is a deliberate plot to allegedly threaten opposition politicians in the country so as to intimidate them before the 2019 election.

Ugochiyere, “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 the 2019 general elections.

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

“In 2014, people cross-carpeted and the then opposition party hailed it as a 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.”

Meanwhile, their gathering is coming days after the arrest of Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, Dr Ike Ekweremadu, by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

THE WHISTLER recalls that the Abuja home of Ekweremadu, who is said to still be in EFCC custody, was recently besieged by operatives of the Anti-Corruption agency.