The International Community has been asked to impose a visa ban and other travel restrictions on President Muhammadu Buhari after his handing over on May 29, 2023.
Recall that President-elect, Bola Tinubu, will be sworn in on May 29 to take over government from President Buhari.
Ahead of the anticipated event in the country, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), faulted Buhari’s remark on the conduct of the 2023 general elections, saying the Nigerian leader was gloating over the worst election in the country’s history of recent.
The opposition party accused the incumbent President of attempting to bully the judiciary, which is currently handling electoral petitions, into giving legitimacy to a clearly flawed election, asking that the sanctions be extended to all those involved in manipulating the outcome of the 2023 elections.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, made the call during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday (today).
OsunDaily News understands that the PDP chieftain was responding to claims by President Buhari that the opposition lost the 2023 elections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), because of overconfidence and lack of strategy.
The President had said earlier at the State House when he received the Progressive Governors Forum led by its Chairman, Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State that the PDP “Were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC.
“Our party blended confidence with caution, we worked hard and won. Now, their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else.”
Buhari Undermined Democracy In Nigeria
Reacting to the statement credited to President Buhari, Ologunagba who spoke in Abuja today said PDP did not lose the 2023 presidential election as claimed by the Nigerian leader.
He accused the incumbent President of undermining democracy in Nigeria. The PDP chieftain said: “We are not willing to surrender the mandate freely given to our party by the people irrespective of the threats, bullying and manipulation by the APC-led administration.
“Having clearly undermined democracy in Nigeria, the PDP calls on the International Community to accordingly impose sanctions, including visa ban and travel restrictions, on President Buhari and his family immediately he vacates office on May 29.
“This demand for sanction is in line with President Buhari’s request on February 17, 2022, in Brussels, Belgium, wherein he called on the European Union (EU) to impose ‘weighty sanctions’ on those engaged in ‘unconstitutional change of governments’ as well as those influencing the ‘process and outcomes of elections’.
“The PDP also demands an open investigation into the roles played by President Buhari in the undermining of democracy in Nigeria in the 2019 and 2023 Presidential elections.”
