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…gives FG three-point demand to move Nigeria forward
…reiterates position on Twitter
…use carrot and stick approach not brute force
…insists democracy is endangered
By Emman Ovuakporie
Members of the House of Representatives, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus on Saturday called on the Federal Government to respect June 12 as the symbol of democratic freedom giving a three-point demand to move Nigeria from the abyss of total destruction.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the caucus declaring that June 12 as a symbol of democratic freedom should be respected by ensuring that all the tenets of democracy are adhered to in all ramifications.
To this end, in a statement signed by the caucus leader, Rep Kingsley Chinda made a three-point demand to help Nigeria embrace peace.
The demands include:
An immediate demand to “Improve on our democratic practice by respecting the rule of law and press freedom, immediately reverse the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria and set aside the draconian regulation of social media in our country.
2. Place greater value on Nigerian lives and take decisive and pragmatic steps to end the avoidable deaths and kidnapping of Nigerians.
3. Restrain the Police and other security forces from further unleashing violence on unarmed youths and other peaceful protesters who choose to go out and exercise their rights in commemoration of this Democracy Day and on any other day they so choose.
The caucus insisted that”If the sacrifices of our people make the celebration of our nascent democracy worthwhile, it is because our people have come to cherish the blood, tears and toil of those whose sacrifices make the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms essential to democracy.
” June 12 is not only about introspection, it is about renewing the commitments of all to the growth of democracy in our dear county, Nigeria, as it is about ensuring that our country is never again enveloped by darkness, hemmed to the abyss by the sinister forces that threaten our collective rights and freedoms.
“Never in our history have freedom become so threatened and endangered than now. Down the length and breadth of our country, people are not only being arrested and detained, they are denied the right to life guaranteed by Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Homes have become mourning parlours everywhere.
Read full statement below:
June 12 presents to our people another opportunity for introspection and for looking back on the democratic journey of our nation, the road taken and not taken, and the sacrifices of citizens that make the day as historical as the memories that map both the journey and introspection. If the sacrifices of our people make the celebration of our nascent democracy worthwhile, it is because our people have come to cherish the blood, tears and toil of those whose sacrifices make the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms essential to democracy. June 12 is not only about introspection, it is about renewing the commitments of all to the growth of democracy in our dear county, Nigeria, as it is about ensuring that our country is never again enveloped by darkness, hemmed to the abyss by the sinister forces that threaten our collective rights and freedoms.
Never in our history have freedom become so threatened and endangered than now. Down the length and breadth of our country, people are not only being arrested and detained, they are denied the right to life guaranteed by Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Homes have become mourning parlours everywhere. While parents are burying their children in a land that once held out the promises of life, sadness becomes the reality of life; our nation has suddenly been turned into a waste land of less hope and disillusionment. We have to walk the streets of our country to hear the tales of woes, lamentations, and dirges coming out of every home. A people that once regaled the world with their mirth, to the extent that the world recognized them as the happiest people on the face of the earth, have become shadows of themselves. Do we need to state the statistics of death, in order to establish the point we make here? Those who were killed are not mere statistics; they had blood and water flowing in them, and they were our brothers and sisters, members of our bloodlines, whose death diminishes our humanity. Even where we cannot here name those killed by bandits and kidnappers in the North East, North West and other geopolitical regions of our country, murdered by security operatives in the South east, we respect their memories that will eternally remain collective blessings to a country in dire need of epiphany and redemption.
June 12 represents hope but with their failed tripodal promises of security, economy and curbing corruption, the reality today is that APC has failed the people of Nigeria.
Never in the history of Nigeria has so much resources and efforts been devoted to monitoring citizens without corresponding result for security. All the sums spent for such purpose by various administrations since independence in 1960 pales into insignificance when compared with what the current APC administration has voted for monitoring/surveillance between 2015 and now, yet dangerous threat to lives and property persist. In their time, the APC appears to have fiercely facilitated the influx of foreign bandits who now wantonly kill and maim on rural farmlands across the federation, spreading sorrow and anguish on a daily basis.
Sadly too, the APC administration’s warped management of Nigeria’s economy has given the current administration the inglorious distinction of being the only administration in Nigeria’s history to bring lead economy into two cycles of recession. Also unprecedented is the fact that about 50 percent of Nigerian youth are either unemployed or under-employed partly because Nigeria, under APC, has become a nightmare for foreign investors while inflation as well as the value of the Naira are witnessing extremely sad historical levels.
Let us al resolve to restore the hope that June 12 represents by driving away the plague called APC through democratic means in 2023. It is the only way that we can restore prosperity and hope for current and future generations in Nigeria.
The miserable existence of our people, evident in their hardships and sufferings, coupled with the ineptitude and inaction of the government, forms the trauma that daily confronts our country. As we mark another democracy day, on this 12 June 2021, we salute the resilience of our people, particularly the youths who will be out on the streets on this day 12th June 2021 defending democracy, and our valiant citizens who have gone ahead and whose sacrifices are not in vain.
It is regrettable that on the day we are celebrating the June 12 anniversary, no less than 93 people were reported to have been massacred by bandits in Zamfara state.
May their blood continue to water our tree of freedom and liberation from the hands of our oppressors.
The war is not a conventional war, there is need for the carrot and stick approach and not threat of brute force as Nigerians are slaughtered daily even in the face of the threats.
The US government has gone into negotiation with Afghanistan despite the fact that the Talibans have killed more American soldiers in any warfare in history, yet negotiation was embraced.
What’s stopping Mr President from taking this noble step rather than issuing threats of teaching them the language they will understand.
We hereby unequivocally call on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency:
1. Improve on our democratic practice by respecting the rule of law and press freedom, immediately reverse the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria and set aside the draconian regulation of social media in our country.
2. Place greater value on Nigerian lives and take decisive and pragmatic steps to end the avoidable deaths and kidnapping of Nigerians.
3. Restrain the Police and other security forces from further unleashing violence on unarmed youths and other peaceful protesters who choose to go out and exercise their rights in commemoration of this Democracy Day and on any other day they so choose.
In the end, and with God on our side, we are confident of the ultimate victory for “the Victory of evil over good can only be temporary”.
Happy June 12 anniversary.
Rep O.K. Chinda
Leader, PDP Caucus
House of Representatives.