APC NEC: You violated oath of office, PDP knocks Buhari

…Mocks APC for holding illegal NEC meeting

…Demands Buni, Malami’s resignation

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for violating his oath of office by using the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Chambers and government resources to conduct the affairs of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party described this action of Mr. President, in using public facilities and resources for APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, as the height of corruption as well as a desecration of the sanctity of the seat of power and national values.

The PDP argued that never in the history of the nation has governance been so devalued to the extent of using the hallowed chamber of the highest executive body in the country, where high-level executive decisions are taken, for an “illegal, wrongly constituted and Nicodemus meeting” of a political party.

The party’s position was contained in a statement on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

According to the party, Buhari’s act, a shameful development, is a further manifestation of the level of “impunity, recklessness, disrespect for rules and disdain for our laws by the APC administration”, whose latest action exposes a move towards instituting the art of running processes and programmes through illegality, illicitness, illegitimate and unlawful means driven by crude force and naked power.

The PDP added that “it is an indefensible double standard for President Buhari, whose administration has been hounding and prosecuting innocent Nigerians for allegedly using public resources for activities of their political parties, to use the resources and facilities of the FEC chamber for his party’s NEC meeting”.

The PDP accused the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, of being part of the desecration of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by functioning as a notary public to a political party and using official facilities of FEC chamber to administer oath of office to a functionary of a political party, in total disregard to his oath of office, the code of conduct prohibitions under the 5th Schedule and extant public service rules.

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“This is the same Attorney General, who has been prosecuting others for alleged but unsubstantiated use of public resources for activities of their political parties.

“The PDP holds that by using government facilities and resources to promote the activities of his party, the Attorney General has become culpable of the same offence for which he has been prosecuting innocent Nigerians.

“Malami has therefore become ethically challenged to continue in office as the Chief Law Officer of our nation.

“Our party therefore demands that the Attorney General should immediately resign from office and surrender himself for prosecution”, the party slammed Malami.

Mocking the ruling APC over the NEC meeting, the party said it is even more disgraceful that “the furtive APC NEC meeting at the FEC Chamber was convened in total violation of the APC Constitution, which prescribes 14 days notice for regular NEC meeting and 7 days notice in the case of an emergency meeting under Article 25 (b) (i) and (ii) respectively”.

It insisted that such is a coup against APC’s constitution which renders the purported APC NEC meeting illegal and decisions taken therein, a complete nullity.

The party further stated that “the kind of marshal orders and threats which President Buhari was issuing out at the NEC meeting without allowing for a debate was a sad reminder of his days at the Supreme Military Council in 1984, adding that this raised questions on the democratic content of the NEC meeting by the APC.

The major opposition party, therefore, called for resignation of officers endorsed at such meeting and declaration of their positions illegal.

“Moreover, now that the Governor of Yobe state, Mai Mala Buni, has been sworn in as the Chairman of APC Caretaker Committee, he has made himself a full administrative officer of the APC and as such, should immediately resign as the Governor of Yobe state, in keeping with Article 17 (iv) of the APC Constitution which prohibits such dual mandate”, the party stated.

The PDP counseled APC leaders to note that Nigeria is a nation governed by law and as such the ruling party will not be allowed to use their crisis to destroy national democratic order.