The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council has suspended its presidential campaign in protest of President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to suspend the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.
The president suspended the CJN on Friday, according to him, on the orders of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where charges had been brought against Onoghen over asset declaration.
According to s statement personally issued by the National Chairman of the main opposition party and co-Chairman of its Presidential Campaign Council, the action is also in solidarity with Nigerians in the party’s collective rejection of the assault against the nation’s democratic order.
Describing President Buhari action as a “dangerous and brazen assault on the constitution”, the PDP Campaign Council said that there is no point in campaigning to contest in an election, whose very basis has been so flagrantly undermined.
“The basis for this election is the democracy itself. When democracy comes under this kind of virulent attack, then the election itself becomes superfluous,” the statement said.
The PDP Presidential Campaign was scheduled to be in Benue State on Saturday. But it now said it is suspending its campaign activities for a period of 72 hours in the first instance.
The statement added: “In the first instance, we are suspending our campaign for 72 hours. It is our hope that President Buhari will listen to the voice of all lovers of democracy the world over and restore democracy in Nigeria immediately and without qualifications. At the moment, the President has effectively suspended the constitution under whose basis the elections are being contested.
“The action of President Buhari represents a constitutional breach and a direct attack on our democracy. This must never be allowed to stand, as there is no way by which democracy can survive under these autocratic tendencies.
“We call on all well meaning Nigerians to rise in defence of democracy and save our nation from this imminent slide into tyranny.”
