For Immediate Release
Houston, Texas, USA
August 7, 2018
PDP Diaspora Initiative Condemns the Tuesday DSS Invasion of the National Assembly
PDP Diaspora Initiative (PDP-DI), a US-based registered non-profit organization composed of members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from all parts of the world, including Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States of America, has condemned the Tuesday, August 7, 2018 invasion of the National Assembly by agents of the Department of State Services (DSS).
While the lawmakers were preparing to go about their regular business on Tuesday, DSS deployed about 100 heavily armed operatives to cordon off the National Assembly premises and prevent these elected officers from carrying on with the people’s business.
PDP-DI joins its mother organization, the People’s Democratic Party, which has made it clear in a Tuesday press statement that “in sending armed security men to invade the National Assembly and block lawmakers from accessing the legislative chambers, President Buhari has crossed the line,” placing our democracy in jeopardy and setting our nation on the path of anarchy.
“This kind of thing cannot happen in a true democracy. Nigeria ought to be a democratic nation,” PDP-DI Founder and National Chair Hon. Victoria Pamugo said.
“We don’t have to pick and choose what aspects of democracy to apply. We don’t have to combine a little bit of democracy here and a little bit of dictatorship there,” she said.
“This administration cannot use law enforcement agents to harass and intimidate lawmakers elected by the citizens in order to force them to do its political will,” she said.
“Where then is the principle of separation of power in all these things?” Hon. Pamugo asked.
PDP-DI agrees that Vice President Osinbajo’s action in dismissing the DSS boss, Lawal Daura, who hails from the same town as President Muhammadu Buhari, is nothing more than a scapegoating, an afterthought, which does not go far enough in repairing the damage that has been done to our democratic institutions by the All Progressive Congress (APC).
“This is becoming a pattern for this Buhari-led APC administration as the 2019 general elections approach,” Hon. Pamugo said.
“We saw this type of strategy in full display during the Ekiti State gubernatorial elections. This is a completely unacceptable way to run a democracy,” Hon. Pamugo said.
As an organization whose mission, in part, is to be the voice for the voiceless and ensure that Nigerians can enjoy the dividends of democracy, the same way people in the United States and other advanced economies do, PDP-DI enjoins all Nigerians to condemn unequivocally this type of APC overreach and protect our democracy.
“This clearly shows why it is ever more important for the Nigerian electorate to be aware of the power they possess and the change they can cause to happen using their votes in 2019,” Hon. Pamugo said.
For more information about PDP-DI, its mission and mandate, please visit www.pdpdiasporainitiative.com.
Signed:
Chidi Igwe
National Publicity Secretary
PDP Diaspora Initiative