Alleged Rights Violation: Presidency Replies PDP Over Letter To UN

The Presidency on Monday responded to the letter from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the United Nations, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of several allegations.

In the letter written by the PDP National Chairman, Mr Uche Secondus, and addressed to the UN Secretary-General, the opposition party alleged that Federal Government was destroying Nigeria’s democracy and violating the rights of its members, among others.

Responding in a statement issued in Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, faulted the PDP for the letter which he described as “preposterous and comical”.

He added that the letter has proven that the PDP was allegedly desperate for another chance to regain power at the centre after their loss in 2015.

The statement read, “PDP’s lecture on democracy and the rule of law coming from a party with a tradition of undemocratic rule is a desperate attempt to pervert history and the course of justice. The sermon, is both trite and hollow, coming from a party with intolerance for dissent as its hallmark.

“A party that humiliated opposition parties and stunted their growth. This was the atmosphere that nurtured the birth of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

Mr Shehu noted that the war against corruption, for which many more politicians may be docked soon, should not be misrepresented as an attack on human rights.

He also warned the PDP leadership not to mislead the UN, stressing that politicians in the country were used to dispensing with state funds in whatever manner they please.

The presidential aide, however, informed those who were accused of looting the nation’s resources in the course of the anti-corruption campaign that the law would catch up with them soon.

“If the public were privy to some of the facts and figures on corruption that President Buhari and the anti-corruption agencies are, they would understand the passion that drives the determination to nail these callous men and stop them in their corrupt tracks.

“Regarding the accusation that President Buhari is behind the spate of herdsmen and farmer clashes in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, all we will say is that it as an embarrassing charge that the PDP would make, conveying an allegation from the beer parlours of Nigeria to an international body like the UN. 

“The PDP certainly has no shred of evidence to make such an allegation. These are comments driven by tribalism and that age-old trick of balkanisation in a bid to score political points,” the statement added.

Shehu further highlighted some of the measures taken by President Buhari to end the spate of killings in the country to include mobilising state resources against the attackers and approving the setting up of new police and army formations in the affected areas, as well as the recruitment of thousands into the police and other arms of the military.

He stated that the President has nothing to gain from the killings, alleging that it was the PDP that was treating the unfortunate incidents as political gift.