Plateau Killings: PDP declares 7 days of morning, orders Flags flown at Half Mast; Says APC has turned Nigeria into a funeral parlour.

Aftermath of the mass murder and gruesome killings of over 200 innocent Nigerians by gun men suspected to be herders on Saturday and Sunday (23rd and 24thJune 2018), the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared seven-day mourning for the victims.

In this regard, the PDP has directed that its flags at all its offices and formation at all levels across the country be flown at half-mast during the period in honour of the victims.

PDP in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan advised the people of Plateau state to exercise their rights as global citizens, work with other public-spirited Nigerians and groups and “take President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for acting helpless in the face of continuous mass killings in our country.”

He said, “The PDP firmly holds that the life of every Nigerian is sacred. All Nigerians must be protected whether they are Birom, Basange, Igbira, Tiv, Idoma, Hausa, Igbo, Fulani, Gbagyi, Yoruba or from any other tribe whatsoever.

“The fundamental duty of government all over the world is the protection of lives and Nigerians can no longer continue to fold their hands while compatriots are being daily hacked down by marauders.”

Meanwhile, members of the party who were on a courtesy visit at the party’s headquarters on Wednesday in solidarity with Nigeria under the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were told that the nation has been turned into a funeral parlour where wailing and gnashing of teeth is a daily routine for millions of her citizens.

Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of PDP made the disclosure while playing host to members of the party from his Kabba/Bunu Constituency of Kogi State at the party’s national secretariat.

The party members who were on a courtesy visit in solidarity with their “son,” commended the National Publicity Secretary for helping to put the ruling party on its toes since his victory at the PDP national elective convention in December, 2017.

While thanking his constituency for the visit, Ologbondiyan said, “Nigeria is passing through perilous times. Today, our country has been turned into a funeral parlour by the APC.

“When you go back, you need to let our people know the current state of the country so that they will not make the mistake they made in 2015 by voting for Muhammadu Buhari. We don’t need anybody to tell us that we are suffering.

“It is unimaginable that while Nigerians are suffering untold economic hardship, including unpaid salaries, due to the misrule of the APC, governors elected on the platform of the APC diverted N150 million each, amounting to a humongous N3.6 billion to fund their wasteful national convention in Abuja.

“Recently, the Brooking Report shows that under President Buhari and APC governors, millions of Nigerians are daily dropping below poverty line.

“According to the report, Nigeria under Buhari has become poverty capital of the world. There is hunger and starvation everywhere, yet the APC stole N3.6 billion from public coffers to fund its national convention.

“Everybody knows that APC is a party of corruption. That is why their choice of a national chairman is an individual overburdened by allegations of humongous corruption and alleged stealing of public funds, yet enjoying presidential cover, even when the petition against him at the EFCC is in the public domain.”

Ologbondiyan frowned at the manner of emergence of the new APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, saying he must be investigated for alleged corrupt deeds if the President Buhari administration is to be taken seriously in its fight to rid the nation of corruption.

“The PDP restates its demand that the EFCC immediately commence investigation against Oshiomhole, otherwise, it would have no ground upon which to continue to arrest, investigate and arraign other Nigerians on allegations of corruption”, he said.

He said the PDP has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to recognize Oshiomhole, “as his emergence by affirmation is a violation of democratic requirements of direct voting by delegates.

“You will recall that in 2012, we had a convention which INEC declared a nullity because they said we did not follow the rules‎. As we speak today, the coronation that INEC conducted at Eagle Square did not fit into any of our electoral laws.

“We therefore call on INEC to declare it null and void. All those who did not go through votes at the convention, all those who were elected by voice votes, INEC must declare their elections null and void because they did not go through the electoral laws.”

Noting that President Buhari could no longer claim to be a man of integrity, he said, “Each time President Buhari poses as a man of integrity, informed Nigerians shudder. If he is a man of integrity, why is he condoning corruption in his presidency and surrounding himself with corrupt people?

“Why is he blocking the investigation of Oshiomhole over corruption allegations? Why did he allow looted funds to be used for his party’s national convention? Buhari is not a man of integrity as his handlers want Nigerians to believe”.

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