Ambassador Sunday Akogun has criticised the recent display of maladroit political practices orchestrated by the federal government of Nigeria to harm-twist and eventually silence the voice of the average Nigerian.
In a statement through the Network of Yoruba Alliance (NEYA) which is a network of over 25 indigenous organizations that cuts across the South-Western region of Nigeria, Akogun decried that a nation where freedom of speech and association as guaranteed by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic as amended, is left as a paper-work that will never again stand the test of time in the face of intimidation and harassment, “especially in issues that border on principles of leadership and democratic sustainability.”
Nigerian political topography is being deliberately abused consistently by gruesome daylight robbery on the tenets of democracy by the ruling political party the All Progressive Congress, (APC).
In an attempt to cover up under-performance of this administration, the APC has resulted to intimidating, harassing and coercing members of the party that dare challenge abnormalities within the party which is tantamount to undermining the kernel of democracy (internal democracy) without which democratic sustainability can flourish.
“The undue treatments melted at some senator’s overtime by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which suggests little or no regards for the offices of Nigerian senators and governors. Senator Dino Melaye was a victim of this barbaric politics of discrimination. Now it is Senator Bukola Saraki and other colleagues in both Upper and Lower Chambers. It can be any of the citizenries in the nearest future,” he said
The statement added that, It is apt time President Muhammadu Buhari faces and proffers lasting solution to the enormous challenges facing us as a nation instead of dissipating Nigerian resources into fighting the selfish course. What used to be a buoyant economy is now in shambles, people are being killed like cattle yet security agencies pay lip services to the menace. The President should restrain from using Nigerian police institutions as an extension of the APC. They are meant to protect Nigerians, ironically, police resources are been dissipated and concentrated on fighting the perceived party enemies thereby depriving the common man his right to adequate security of life and property.
Also, NEYA condemns, in strong terms, the various attacks on the senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki. The allegation by the Nigerian Police which links Senator Bukola Saraki to the robbery and killing of innocent souls in Offa Kwara State is baseless, ridiculous and an attempt to stain the integrity and personality of the Senate president by his political antagonists. The recent failed plots by President Muhammadu Buhari to impeach him as the Senate president is a clear indication that his person is perceived a threat to a clique of political ambition, hence the witch-hunting.
NEYA asserts that allegations and persecutions against the Senate president are political gimmicks orchestrated not only to frustrate but to destroy him politically by the APC leadership and benefactors. He who must come to equity must come with clean hands, therefore, if the Nigerian police claims, that links the robbers with Senator Bukola Saraki as his political thugs is true, then the police must be courageous enough to prosecute offenders for murder and robbery and equally invite all the APC aspirants during the 2014 election that benefitted from their activities, Nigerian police must be transparent and stop this show of shame for the sake of political sustainability.
The Network of Yoruba Alliance, NEYA, is dazed with rather an unfortunate and disheartening manner the Yoruba leaders, home and abroad, has decided to watch with folded arms and sealed lips the persecutions of distinguished Senator Bukola Saraki in the hands of political tyrannies. Amidst the killings, maiming, kidnappings and other socio-vices that characterized the North and the Middle Belt, no significant arrest and prosecution has been made by the federal government, why then is the desperation to falsely nail Senator Bukola Saraki? Why can’t Yoruba leaders rally round Senator Bukola? Why the castigation?
We must begin to view things from different perspectives. Action they say is louder than voice, hence, the refusal of our Yoruba leaders to stand up in one voice for one of their sons may induce a deeply negative impact on the future generation compared to the gains of today.
The group has requested that:
1. President Muhammadu Buhari should show the political will to salvage the Nigerian socio-economic problems rather than concentrating efforts on witch-hunting a perceived enemy of his administration.
2. President Buhari should strive to enshrine the tenets of internal democracy as this is the only bases for political sustainability.
3. That Network of Yoruba Alliance (NEYA) stands in support of Senator Bukola Saraki, and we demand that the APC and its big-wigs desist from politics of hatred.
4. The All Progressive Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari should stop parading the security institutions as the extension of the party. The Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies should distance their activities from party partisan politics.
5. The present administration under the tutelage of President Buhari should pay more attention to killings and insecurity rattling in the North and Middle Belt region. The incessant killings of innocent Nigerians must stop!!! The APC should mellow down on their recent activities that can heat up the polity to prevent more gory situations in our country.
6. All Yoruba elders must stand up and be more responsible for calling all political children into a family room in respective of their political.
