Impose visa ban on Buhari after May 29, PDP begs international community

The Peoples Democratic Party has urged the international community to impose visa ban and other travel restrictions on President Muhammadu Buhari over his comments on the 2023 elections, saying he was gloating over Nigeria’s worst election in recent memory.

The PDP also accused the President of attempting to bully the judiciary, which is currently handling electoral petitions, into giving legitimacy to a clearly flawed election, asking that the sanctions be extended to all those involved in manipulating the outcome of the 2023 elections.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, made the call at a briefing in Abuja, on Friday.

The opposition party is responding to claims by Buhari that the opposition lost the 2023 elections to the ruling All Progressives Congress because of overconfidence and lack of strategy.

The President said it in the State House when he received the Progressive Governors Forum led by its Chairman, Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State.

Buhari had said, “They were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC.

“Our party blended confidence with caution, we worked hard and won. Now, their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else.”

Reacting on Friday, PDP said it did not lose the presidential election as claimed by Buhari.

According to Ologunagba, “We are not willing to surrender the mandate freely given to our party by the people irrespective of the threats, bullying and manipulation by the APC-led administration.

“Having clearly undermined democracy in Nigeria, the PDP calls on the International Community to accordingly impose sanctions, including visa ban and travel restrictions, on President Buhari and his family immediately he vacates office on May 29.

“This demand for sanction is in line with President Buhari’s request on February 17, 2022 in Brussels, Belgium, wherein he called on the European Union (EU) to impose ‘weighty sanctions’ on those engaged in ‘unconstitutional change of governments’ as well as those influencing the ‘process and outcomes of elections’.

“The PDP also demands an open investigation into the roles played by President Buhari in the undermining of democracy in Nigeria in the 2019 and 2023 Presidential elections.”