The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has nothing against Rivers State governor Siminalayi Fubara, for leaving its platform to the All Progressives Congress (APC), but prayed that he does not “suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor.”
PDP in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Ini Emembong, expressed pity to the Rivers State governor and wish him well.
The party stated that the Rivers situation is a testament to the dysfunctional nature of the nation’s democracy, “where individuals are bigger and stronger than institutions and (where he) can use the apparatus of the Federal Government to obfuscate political life out of their opponents and bring them to their knees.”
PDP warned that democracy in Nigeria is threatened, and called on all well-meaning Nigerians to unite in condemning the progressive decline of democratic norms in the country.
According to the party, everyone who has followed the developments that culminated into Fubara’s defection would recall that the governor “willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination.”
It however said Fubara cannot accuse the PDP, or anybody or group of abandoning or not protecting him, noting that the party, the civil society organisations, and all Nigerians stood up in his defence since this crisis started until “he capitulated.”
PDP reiterated that democracy is under attack in Nigeria, and accused the ruling party of pushing the country towards a one-party state “and the constriction of the political space.”
