US right, military usurping Buhari’s power, says PDP | Nairalaw

The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party,
supported the position of the US on the conduct of the 2019
elections.

It alleged that the military were sharing power with President
Muhammadu Buhari.

The party said the involvement of the military in the conduct of
the elections had shown that the President had either abandoned his
job or that the military were no longer ready to face their
constitutional roles of defending the territorial integrity of the
country.

The PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who stated this
while reacting to the US assessment of the elections, said the
military were behind the states whose elections were declared
inconclusive by INEC.

He said the military practically took over the control of the
elections by allegedly determining who should vote and whether such
votes should count in many states or not.

He added that in some states like Rivers and Bauchi, the
military took over collation centres and even barred some officers
of the commission from gaining access to the centres where votes
were meant to be counted and collated.

Secondus said, “It is not only the US that is disappointed;
millions of Nigerians are also sad with the conduct of the
elections. This is the first time in the history of elections in
Nigeria that the military will be dictating the pace and whether
the votes will count or not.

“We have all seen the report of INEC on Rivers State and others.
It is obvious that the military have been sharing powers with the
President. If this is not true, how can the military be the one to
determine which results would be allowed into the collation
centres?

“The military have abandoned their constitutional roles of
defending the territorial integrity of the nation. They have become
an arm of a political party. This is dangerous for the nation.

“The military are helping the ruling party to kill the
opposition in order to have a one-party state. If that is allowed,
then we may not have democracy again but a one-party state. That
are shameful and unacceptable.

“The military are the one determining which state election is to
be declared inconclusive with their actions.

“Democracy without opposition is no longer a government of the
people by the people. Rather, it is a dictatorship government. We
should all rise up and caution both the President and the
military.”