Yoruba groups tell Int’l community to monitor NASS leadership poll
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Oodua People’s Frontiers (OPF) and Yoruba Patriots Alliance (YPA), have urged the international community to monitor the election of the presiding officers in the 10th Assembly.
The groups said the request was as a result of the undue interference of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had nominated Godswill Akpabio and Jubrin Barau as preferred candidates for the president and deputy senate president positions.
OPF Convener and YPA National President, Moses Oluwasegun Odewale
Anuoluwabamise Adetutu, in a statement on Monday, claimed that the country’s democracy was under siege, which must be liberated by citizens.
They said: “We urge the international community to closely monitor the situation unfolding in our nation.
“Nigeria, as a democratic country, should not be tarnished by such actions that undermine the principles we hold dear.
“We call on international bodies and organizations to lend their voices and support in condemning any attempts to subvert democracy.”
The statement added: “The Oodua People’s Frontier (OPF) and the Yoruba Patriots Alliance (YPA) vehemently condemns the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government for its brazen interference in the election of principal officers of the National Assembly.
“We express our utmost dissatisfaction and concern over the flagrant disregard for democratic principles demonstrated by this administration.
“It is disheartening to witness the relentless attempts by the government to utilize security agencies as tools of intimidation, coercing aspiring candidates into submission.
“Such actions are not only undemocratic but also threaten the very foundations of our democracy. Nigeria is not an agberocracy.
“We are a nation founded on democratic principles, where the separation of powers and the independence of the legislative and judicial arms are paramount.
“We vehemently repudiates any misguided parallel drawn between Nigeria and the confined realm of Lagos State, where agberos and touts reign supreme.
“We assert that Nigeria, as a whole, transcends the narrow scope of a single state and operates on an entirely different scale of governance.
“It is shameful that the current government, barely at the outset of its tenure, is already exhibiting dictatorial tendencies.
“Considering the use of court orders to impede eligible candidates from exercising their fundamental rights to contest for principal offices in the Senate is not only an affront to our democracy but also a blatant violation of the principles of justice and fairness.”
