PDP leaders storm National Assembly over Fayose

Members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday stormed the National Assembly In protest.

The party leaders led by national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus said it was in protest over the alleged brutalizations of Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose by the police.

Fayose who appeared in public on Wednesday in a neck brace, and supported by some aides claimed he was teargassed and beaten by policemen posted to the state for the governorship election in the state slated for Saturday.

Others in the team who protested to the National Assembly Complex were a former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara; former Minister of Health, Prof. ABC Nwosu; a former National Woman Leader, Josephine Anenih; and former Majority Leader of the Senate, Mulikat Akande-Adeola, among others.

The protesters, who were received by Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, demanded a free, fair and credible governorship election in Ekiti on Saturday.

Secondus, while handing over a letter of protest to Ekweremadu, said, “We have come to notify our lawmakers that democracy is under threat. Only yesterday (Wednesday), the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose was assaulted, harassed and pushed to the ground. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has not only place democracy under threat in Nigeria but throughout the world.

“We are aware of a civilian coup in Ekiti but all we are saying is that we don’t want elections to be rigged. The international community is watching what the security agencies and INEC will do on Saturday.

We demand free and fair elections because anything short of this is a recipe for disaster. We are not intimidated and we won’t be cowed.”

Read also: Fayose appears in neck-brace, narrates ordeal in hands of police

The PDP chairman then warned that there was not going to be elections should there be a compromise of the will of Ekiti people on Saturday.

Ekweremadu responding, said, “All the issues raised in your petition will be looked into by the leadership of the National Assembly. We are going to make contacts with INEC and the police and we are going to do everything possible to make sure that there is free and fair elections.”

After the visit to the National Assembly, the protesters took their protest to the INEC headquarters where they also handed a protest petition to one of the commission’s national commissioners, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola.

Some of the placards the protesters displayed had inscriptions such as “Buhari, stop intimidating Nigerians,” “This is not the democracy we voted for,” “Buhari, you are not God.”

 

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