The Democratic People’s Congress (DPC) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to contest the 2019 Presidential election in the interest of the corporate existence of the country and wellbeing of the citizenry.
The National Chairman of the party Rev. Olusegun Peters gave the advice Thursday in Abuja at the first National Convention of the party.
The party also frowned at the proliferation of political parties across the country and call for amendment of relevant laws to tighten the noose on party registrations.
“We are joining the voice of reasons of those urging our dear president not to contest the 2019 presidency. He should rather support a younger, pragmatic and competent Nigerian to succeed him so that the fortune of the country can be turned around for the better. Nigeria is at crossroads. The high rate of insecurity in the country is worrisome. Nigeria is presently at Thomas Hobbes ‘State of Nature’ where life is “nasty, brutish and short”,” he said.
He said though the party believes in participatory democracy, it however frowned at the proliferation of political parties in the country and that it is concerned about the continuous registration of new parties by INEC when many of those already registered are yet to find their footings.
“We know that INEC is handicapped in this. That is why we recommend that the Electoral Act should be amended to remove the clause which states that any political association seeking registration with INEC and if after 30 days of its formal application for registration it did not get any response from INEC shall deem itself registered as a political party. The aforementioned clause shall be replaced by “any political association that seeks registration with INEC as a political party shall deem itself not registered if after 30 days it did not get any response from INEC,” Peters said.
He called for proportional representation in the legislative arm of Government at the states and National assemblies as embraced by several countries as panacea to winner takes all syndrome that bred acrimony, violence, election rigging and malpractices.
He said, “Similarly, we are advocating for a maximum of three terms limit for our lawmakers. We can no longer accept a situation where the legislature has become the retirement homes for former governors and their cronies in perpetuity whether they are fulfilling the electoral mandates of their people or not. This term limit will also give opportunity for vibrant young men and women to have the opportunity of representing their people at the states and National assemblies.”
On insecurity, he said, “Despite some progress made by the APC led Federal Government in the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, insecurity that appears worse than Boko Haram has manifested in various parts of the country, with the government seemly helpless. The attacks by Fulani Herdsmen in various parts of the country, including Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Plateau, Ekiti, Enugu, and Zamfara states, to mention a few, have left deaths, destruction of communities and farmlands in their trails. This has exacerbated hunger and poverty in the country, as most victims of herdsmen’s attacks are the poor farmers and their families.”
