PDP accuses APC of reneging on peace agreement with the arrest of its members including Dino Melaye

NIGERIA'S main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has threatened to pull out of the recent peace pact it signed with the government and withdraw from the agreement it signed with the government following the arrest of several of its members by security forces.

Today, Nigerians go to the polls to elect a president and members of the National Assembly, while in a fortnights time polls will hold for governorship positions and state houses of assembly. In the run-up to the elections, all the political parties signed a peace accord committing them to peaceful conduct, eschewing violence and a pledge to respect the outcome of the polls.

However, the PDP has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of reneging on the deal with the mass arrest of its members nationwide. It has consequently told the National Peace Committee (NPC) and the international community that President Muhammadu Buhari and his party have declared and launched a war on the opposition.

PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged that President Buhari has unleashed the state security apparatus of the police, the military and the Directorate of State Services (DSS) on his party. He claimed that these security forces are hounding, beating up, arresting, detaining and shooting PDP leaders in various states.

Mr Ologbondiyan said: “In Osun, all our key leaders have been arrested on flimsy charges and our leaders are being harassed and detained in Rivers, Kano and other states. In Kogi, our leaders, including former Governor Ibrahim Idris was manhandled, our state campaign spokesperson, Austin Okai, was abducted, while the national publicity secretary and director of media and publicity of the campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, narrowly escaped abduction.

“All our leaders in Kogi are under siege and the whereabouts of Senator Dino Melaye, a senatorial candidate, is uncertain since the last siege on him by security agents. The inspector-general of police Mohammed Adamu has refused to dismantle the siege by Government House police command in Banda.

“We call on the Peace Committee and the international committee to note that President Buhari and APC have breached all the agreements in the peace accord. For us in the PDP and indeed all Nigerians, we have now come to the breaking point where our members can no longer stomach the escalated onslaught of the Buhari presidency and the APC.

"Nigeria belongs to all of us and we might have no option left in the present circumstance than to pull off our gloves. The Peace Committee and the International Criminal Court should hold President Buhari directly responsible for any break down of law and order in our country as Nigerians will never allow him to rig this election.”