The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has cautioned the federal authorities in opposition to utilizing the current information of an alleged coup plot as a pretext to clamp down on opposition leaders and start extra-judicial surveillance on voices that don’t agree with it.
The occasion, in an announcement signed by its Nationwide Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, mentioned it views any risk to Nigeria’s democratic order with utmost seriousness, however warned that the federal authorities should not exploit this second to instill worry, silence dissenting voices, or engineer political benefit underneath the guise of nationwide safety.
The assertion reads: “The ADC has been intently monitoring the studies of an alleged coup plot involving arrested army officers and subsequent media claims {that a} former Southern governor is underneath investigation for allegedly funding the suspects.
“Whereas we vehemently oppose any effort to undermine Nigeria’s constitutional order, we’re equally involved concerning the potential misuse of such allegations to justify political witch-hunts, suppress dissent, or manipulate public sentiment.
“We’re significantly involved concerning the conflicting alerts coming from authorities sources, particularly because the Defence Headquarters has publicly denied ever mentioning a coup plot, regardless of widespread media studies on the contrary. Such inconsistency raises severe fears that the coup narrative could have been politically engineered.
“The ADC is especially involved that the federal authorities has not deemed it match to make a categorical assertion on this very severe matter, particularly after the army authorities had repeatedly denied that there was such a risk to the federal government. By maintaining quiet, the federal government has intentionally allowed the coup story to fester for no matter cause.
“What is evident, nonetheless, is that the federal government is exploiting the coup story to divert consideration from the actual problems with mis-governance within the nation and to curry sympathy.
“Much more considerably, subsequent unattributed media studies purportedly implicating unnamed politicians within the so-called plot now present a pretext for the federal government to clamp down on opposition figures or mount undue surveillance on them.
“We perceive that the APC authorities is determined. However such desperation must not ever be allowed to hazard our democracy or undermine the democratic rights of residents.
“The ADC due to this fact calls on the federal authorities to instantly make clear the true nature of the alleged coup. Authorities has an obligation to decisively quash the swirling hearsay.
“Conversely, if certainly there was any such risk to nationwide safety, the federal government has an obligation to be clear about it and temporary the nation accordingly. Authorities should desist from weaponising nationwide safety as a pretext to silence opposition and political dissent.
“The ADC is resolute in its opposition to dictatorship of any kind, whether or not army dictatorship or its civilian variant. We due to this fact assist any reliable motion which may be taken in defence of our structure and our democracy. In the identical vein, we oppose any ploy by the federal government to intimidate reliable voices underneath the guise of nationwide safety.”
