BEVERLY HILLS, August 10, (THEWILL) – Senate President Bukola Saraki has received support from 45 opposition political parties during a solidarity visit to the Senate President in the Senate building in Abuja on Thursday by the National chairmen of the parties.
They raised the alarm over an alleged plot by a government agency to freeze the bank accounts of the Senate and Saraki.
Speaking on behalf of the party leaders, National Chairman of National Unity Party (NUP), Mr Perry Opara, also alleged that they had privileged information of secret moves to freeze Saraki’s bank accounts.
The moves, he said, was aimed at crippling the parliament and forcing a leadership change in the National Assembly but stated that the group had resolved not to watch democracy crashed by undemocratic forces in Nigeria.
Okpara said, “We wish to alert Nigerians to a new plot by the same people, whose first shameful attempt to unlawfully overthrow the leadership of the National Assembly failed; an attempt, which brought Nigeria to bad international limelight.
“We have it on good authority that a fresh plot is being hatched to make another attempt to cripple the parliament in the guise of impeachment, even when they know that there is not a constitutional majourity to achieve the sinister move.
“We wish to state that we, the chairmen and leaders of political parties, will not support or standby to watch any unconstitutional impeachment of the leadership of the National Assembly.
“Nigeria is gradually turning into a failed state and all the institutions of state have been compromised and desecrated. This is the time to rise in defence of democratic values and nationhood.
“Today, our country is facing the challenges of pervasive insecurity, massive joblessness, and unemployment, ethnic irredentism and disunity.
“We enjoin the National Assembly to use its constitutionally guaranteed powers to legislate to arrest the slide; to give the country a new direction and create hope for our countrymen and women.
“We note that the courts have rejected attempts by the Accord Party to undermine the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to undermine the sequence of elections. We, the majourity of the political parties, disassociate ourselves from that inglorious attempt.”
In his response, Saraki reiterated the resolve and commitment of the 8th Senate to continue to protect and defend the nation’s democracy declaring that the lawmakers would continue to play their role to ensure that the rule of law was followed and that human rights were respected in the country.
“I thank you for taking out time to be with us here today.
“Thank you for the solidarity message and we truly appreciate it as it encourages us to further do what we are doing to defend democracy in our great country.
“We will continue to defend it. We will continue to ensure that there is respect for the rule of law and that due process is followed across the country,” he said.
Saraki expressed optimism that the perpetrators of the recent siege on the National Assembly had learnt their lesson from the wide condemnation that continued to trail the anti-democratic actions of the security operatives.
“It is our hope that those anti-democratic forces have learnt their lesson in the last few days, listening to the voices of Nigerians – men, women, boys and girls, who stood firmly to reject their unconstitutional and anti-democratic action.
“Their voice is loud and clear and I believe we must respect it. We must respect those that have made sacrifices for us to be here.
“Some have paid the ultimate price and we must respect that and ensure that Nigeria, as a country, is a shining example for other democratic nations to emulate.
“We must not allow anything that will tarnish the image of this country and the democracy we have worked so hard to birth and sustain,” he said.
Some of the parties are United Democratic Party (UDP), Rebuild Nigeria Party (RNP), People for Democratic Change (PDC) and Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Progressives Peoples Party(PPP), Grassroots Development Party of Nigeria (GDPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Young Democratic Party (YDP).
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