2019: Atiku, PDP’s refusal to sign peace pact sign of defeat — NDF

The National Democratic Front (NDF) has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for refusing to sign a peace pact ahead of next year’s elections saying that it is a clear indication that they plan to unleash violence in the aftermath of the polls that they already appear set to lose.

The NDF in a press release by its National Publicity Secretary, Olanrwwaju Ayokunle, described the refusal of Atiku and the PDP to sign the pact as clearest sign yet that even the party and its candidate are themselves convinced that they will lose at the election hence their decision to leave loopholes for their thugs to unleash violence on the electorates.

The release noted that Atiku has also confirmed earlier concerns expressed in some quarters that his party’s game plan is to intimidate voters with violence to keep them away from the polling units so that the PDP agents can then have the freedom to stuff the ballot.

It explained that “Atiku’s many sojourns of flitting across political parties has done nothing to tone down the anti-democratic values he had imbibed as a founding member of the PDP. He has now dusted up the old trick of unleashing violence on other contestants and their supporters in the false hope that this will give him a win.

“The peace accord, which other democratic oriented political parties with their candidates willingly signed, is seen by the PDP and Atiku as a limitation that runs against their plan to deploy violence for winning the election. A serious presidential candidate should not have boycotted the gathering for any reason.

“It is noteworthy that the hate speech and campaign of calumny being run by the PDP are already indicative of the extent of violence they will plan to unleash. Since signing the pact would automatically curtail such unsavoury choice of communication, one can easily understand why they do not want to sign.

“While a refusal to sign the peace pact shows Atiku’s disdain for the voting population that has expressed the desire for peaceful elections… If his campaign organization can be disorganized enough not keep track of a communication as important as inking an accord to eschew violence then one can only imagine the kind of dysfunctional country he plans to run,” NDF chided.

It called on the international community to prevail on the PDP and its candidates not to precipitate any crisis in the event that they lose the elections to the incumbent party with a demand that “An updated version of the accord should be presented to the PDP with its candidate to guarantee their making undertakings not to foment trouble or threaten Nigeria’s democratic path with their fixation on violence.”