The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has put on hold all of its scheduled political and electioneering activities, including campaigns, in honour of Nigerian youths who lost their lives during the ordered shooting of peaceful EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate, in Lagos, on Tuesday night, and elsewhere across the country, .
This was contained in a Press statement titled: “#EndSARS: PDP Puts Political, Electioneering Activities on hold”, signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan.
The statement reads in part: “The PDP has put all its political and electioneering activities on hold, as a further mark of honour for Nigerian youths who were killed at the Lekki Toll Gate, as well as other killings that have occurred in various parts of our nation, over the unfortunate fall-out of the EndSARS peaceful protest.
“The PDP had earlier on Thursday night, directed that its flags in all its offices nationwide, be flown at half-mast, in solidarity with the mood of the nation at this trying time.
“Also, our party has been made aware of the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the pending bye-elections in 6 Senatorial Districts and 9 State Constituencies, in 11 States of the Federation, earlier scheduled for October 31, due to the crisis situation in the country.”
The party noted that although its decision comes at a high cost to Candidates and political parties, it believes that its decision is a step in the right direction under the prevailing circumstance.
“In that regard, the PDP charges INEC to continue to monitor the situation and use the period to fine-tune its preparations to conduct peaceful, free, fair and credible elections as part of the much-needed panacea for the restiveness in the country.
“Our party urges the security agencies to also use the period to perfect their roles in electoral operations and tidy up all arrangements to guarantee the right atmosphere for peaceful and transparent polls where the safety of the voters, as well as the sanctity of the ballot box, are guaranteed.
“The PDP also restates its call for calm and prayers for our nation at this critical time in our national life, even as all hands must be on the deck in finding solutions and the way forward for our nation”, the PDP added.
