The leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday led a peaceful protest to the National Assembly over the alleged harsh treatment of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and other members of the party in a rally in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday.
Led by the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, the protesters said they were at the complex to submit a petition to the lawmakers on police actions against Fayose and other PDP members at a rally in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday.
Secondus, who was received at the entrance gate by the highest ranking PDP lawmaker and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, urged the lawmakers to intervene in the muzzling of the party in Ekiti State, especially with regard to Saturday’s governorship election.
He warned that if the election in Ekiti is rigged on Saturday, the consequences would be grave for the 2019 elections, adding that they embarked on the protest because of their “belief in the rule of law.”
“Yesterday, the Ekiti government house was seized and the governor was brutalised, detained and harmed. There was a coup in Ekiti; the State has been militarised and policed. Over 30,000 policemen are there; the citizens are afraid and traumatized,” Secondus noted.
He continued: “We call on the international community to see and watch what is happening in Ekiti. If this is the type of election they intend conducting in 2019, then democracy in Nigeria is under threat and we believe that if they rig the election in Ekiti, there would be no election in 2019.
Your Excellency we have come so you can intervene. By the Constitution, the mandate is with you to carry out your oversight function on the executive.”
Receiving the petition, Ekweremadu said the National Assembly would ensure that the ndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies maintain their neutrality in Ekiti elections.
READ ALSO: CUSTOMS INTERCEPT CACHE OF AMMUNITION IN LAGOS
Send Us News, Gist, more... to citypeopleng@gmail.com | Twitter: @CitypeopleMagz