PDP Attacks Buhari For Holding APC NEC In Govt Facility

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tackled President Muhammadu Buhari for reportedly using the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Chambers and government resources for Thursday’s conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) NEC meeting.

The party said the action of the president is “the height of corruption as well as a desecration of the sanctity of the seat of power and our national values.”

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In a statement issued on Friday by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, noted that such a situation had never happened in the history of the country where governance has been devalued to the extent of “using the hallowed chamber of the highest executive body in the country, where high-level executive decisions are taken, for an illegal, wrongly constituted and Nicodemus meeting of a political party.”

The statement also described the development as shameful and a further manifestation of the level of “impunity, recklessness, disrespect for rules and disdain for our laws by the APC administration.”

According to the statement, the latest action exposes a move towards instituting the art of running processes and programmes through illegality, illicitness, illegitimate and unlawful means driven by crude force and naked power.

“It is even more distressing that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, is part of this desecration of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by functioning as a notary public to a political party and using official facilities of FEC chamber to administer oath of office to a functionary of a political party, in total disregard to his oath of office, the code of conduct prohibitions under the 5th Schedule and extant public service rules,” the statement reads.

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“This is the same Attorney General, who has been prosecuting others for alleged but unsubstantiated use of public resources for  activities of their political parties.

“The PDP holds that by using government facilities and resources to promote the activities of his party, the Attorney General has become culpable of the same offence for which he has been prosecuting innocent Nigerians.

“Malami has therefore become ethically challenged to continue in office as the Chief Law Officer of our nation.”

The PDP called on Malami to resign and surrender himself for prosecution.

The party also holds that the APC NEC was convened in total violation of the APC Constitution, which prescribes 14 days notice for regular NEC meeting and 7 days notice in the case of an emergency meeting under Article 25 (b) (i) and (ii) respectively.

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It maintained that by such action, it had rendered the NEC meeting illegal and all and decisions taken therein, a complete nullity.

“Significantly, the kind of marshal orders and threats which President Buhari was issuing out at the so called NEC meeting without allowing for a debate was a sad reminder of his days at the Supreme Military Council in 1984.

“This raised questions on  the democratic content of the charade called a NEC meeting by the APC.

“Moreover, now that the Governor of Yobe state, Mai Mala Buni, has been sworn in as the Chairman of APC Caretaker Committee, he has made himself a full administrative officer of the APC and as such, should immediately resign as the Governor of Yobe state, in keeping with Article 17 (iv) of the APC Constitution which prohibits such dual mandate.

“The PDP counsels APC leaders to note that Nigeria is a nation governed by law and as such their party will not be allowed to use their  crisis to destroy our democratic order.”

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