The reported invasion of Akwa Ibom Government House by operatives of Department of State Service (DSS) has been condemned by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, on Tuesday.
The governors gave the condemnation after a meeting in the Bayelsa State Governor’s office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
The governors also paid a solidarity visit to former president, Goodluck Jonathan in his country home at Otuoke, Bayelsa state.
The Chairman of the forum, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, who read a communiqué after the meeting, said the invasion was against the spirit and tenets of democratic norms and tradition.
“We insist that the trend must stop henceforth. No democracy survives without a viable opposition in any part of the world. And we must also remember to remind the APC that they are the real beneficiaries of the liberal democratic ethos of the PDP.
“We once more advise the DSS to preoccupy itself with the task of ensuring internal security and desist from daily harassing and intimidating members of the opposition.
“We implore the international community, the civil society organisations and human rights activists to call the All Progressives Party-led Federal Government to order,” Mimiko said.
According to him, we all have a duty to prevent what looks to us like a steady slide of this country into dictatorship.
Mimiko, who expressed worry of the PDP governors, described the alleged invasion of Akwa Ibom Government House by the DSS operatives as “an assault on democracy.”
He said that what happened in Akwa Ibom posed serious danger to the country’s fledgling democracy.
Mimiko said the action was one of the continuous attempts by the APC-controlled government to stifle the opposition.
Of the 13 PDP governors in the country, two governors and four deputy governors were present at the meeting.
The governors were Mimiko and the host, Seriake Dickson, while the deputies that represented their governors were those of Delta, Kingsley Otuaro; Abia, Chris Akomas; Ebonyi, Kelechi Igwe and Kogi, Yomi Awoniyi.
Governors of Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states did not turn out at the meeting. They also did not send any representatives.
However, it was learnt that most of the governors were not present because of their intention to attend Dickson’s formal declaration for second term on Tuesday.
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