The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of undermining the democratic principles which late Chief MKO Abiola fought for. The party made the allegation in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, to mark Democracy Day on Monday, June 12.
The opposition party said it is distasteful, offensive and unacceptable for the nation to observe Democracy Day under a system that infringed, desecrated and despoiled all the tenets of democracy as witnessed in brazen rigging that characterized the 2023 general elections.
Ologunagba said:
“The barefaced manipulations of the 2023 general elections by the APC and INEC amounts to an unpardonable assault and rape of democracy and disregard for the will of the people.
“June 12 epitomizes the struggle by Nigerians against the corrupt, manipulative and anti-democratic system, against injustice, impunity and electoral fraud, which INEC, under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, now represents.
“It is indeed heartrending that all the steady progress and gains made by successive PDP administrations in reforming our electoral system have been completely wiped off by INEC in the conduct of the 2023 general elections.”
The PDP, however, charged all the leaders at all levels across the country to be guided by the essence of June 12 by constantly adhering to the principles of democracy in the overall interest of Nigerians.