The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed that its flag at all the party’s offices be flown at half-mast for a period of one week, beginning from Friday.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday in reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast on the #EndSARS protests in the country.
Mr Ologbondiyan said the directive was in honour of those killed at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
“In solidarity with Nigerians, our party has directed that our flag in all our offices across the nation be flown at half-mast for a period of one week, beginning from Friday.
“The PDP urges all men and women of good faith to join forces in praying for our country, as well as working towards solutions and peaceful resolution of the crisis which seeks to envelope our dear nation,” Mr Ologbondiyan said.
He, however, expressed the party’s dissatisfaction with the President’s speech, saying it was disconnected from the realities of the occurrences in the country in the last two weeks.
The PDP official said it was expected of President Buhari to comment on the concrete steps being taken to arrest the situation.
“Furthermore, Nigerians had expected that Mr President would provide the lead for the much-needed overhauling of our security architecture to meet the demands of professionalism and respect for rules of engagement,” he said.
Mr Ologbondiyan, however, appealed to Nigerians, particularly the youth, to remain calm and allow a return to normal life in the collective quest for peaceful co-existence in the overall interest of our nation.
President Buhari in his nationwide broadcast had told #EndSARS protesters to resist the temptation of being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos with the aim of truncating the nation’s nascent democracy.
