Kogi, Bayelsa polls: Nigeria sliding back to era of dictatorship — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has said the conduct and outcome of the November 16 Kogi and Bayelsa States governorship elections has destroyed the hope Nigerians had in democratic practice.
The party said this in a statement on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.
It said: “Nigerians and the entire world watched in horror as the All Progressives
Congress-led government trampled our democracy under foot with an utmost impunity that can only be obtainable in Hitler’s Germany and Samuel Doe’s Liberia, where the lives and rights of citizens meant nothing to suppressive power mongers.
“Citizens agonized as APC-controlled security forces aided armed hoodlums to invade polling centers, shoot and kill innocent citizens, cart away ballot boxes, stuffed them with already thumbprinted ballot papers in favour of APC, after which results are allocated to the APC and handed over to a compromised Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce against the will of the people.
“It is distressing that under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration, votes no longer count; power and governance no longer derive from the people but from violence, manipulations and the barrel of the gun. Nigerians now ask; are we still in a democracy?
“With the outcome of the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, Nigerians and the world have lost hope in our institutions of democracy and security system as presently constituted.
“They have completely lost hope in INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, which has shown itself to be a repressive tool in the hands of dictatorial forces.
“As a party, we condole with the families of our compatriots that were killed in Kogi and Bayelsa states and prayed that God grant their souls eternal rest.
“The shameful elections conducted in Kogi and Bayelsa states have damaged the fate of Nigerians in democratic order.
“Nevertheless, the PDP remains strong and united in the face of all odds. Nigeria is our nation and no individual or group can appropriate our collective sovereignty as a people at all times.
“Our party will therefore continue to fully exert itself in upholding the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians despite the manipulations of the APC.
“The PDP urges Nigerians to remain resilient and focused. Our party will, in due course, address Nigerians on the way forward in the overall quest to retrieve stolen mandates, rescue our nation from dictatorial forces and reinforce democratic practice in our country.”