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Abia police prepare for 2015 elections

The Abia State police command has organised a workshop for all the political parties, security agencies and traders in the state to orientate them on the need for a violence-free and fair general elections in 2015.

Speaking in Umuahia while declaring the workshop open, the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji said that the workshop could not have come at a better time as the general elections are around the corner, adding that there is need to educate the electorate.

Orji said that the Inspector-General of Police Abba Suleman should be commended for ordering his men in different states to hold the workshop to ensure a hitch-free general election.

The governor who was represented by his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba regretted the absence of several political parties, stressing that only the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) turned up at the workshop.

He maintained that the workshop will lecture the police and other security agencies in the state on the need to ensure that there will be free and fair elections in the coming year and ensure that the electorates know their voting rights.

Orji said that security is very important in the forthcoming general elections and that the state government is not ready to compromise.

Said he, “We are not ready to trade the peace and security of this state and its people under any guise”.

He noted that the government of the state is aware of the troubles and crisis the police command in the state faces during general elections, adding that government is prepared to curb any excesses of the violent politicians should it arise.

Orji praised the political stakeholders in the state for attending the stakeholders workshop, adding that he believes that the participants will fashion out ways that will ensure peace during and after the elections, urging the participants to open their minds to learn and proffer useful solutions to curb election violence.

Earlier the state commissioner of police, Adamu Ibrahim said that the workshop is necessary because elections are near and want politicians to ensure that there will be credible elections, adding that the workshop is the brain child of the Inspector General of Police.

Ibrahim said that it is expected that all the stakeholders would come together to deliberate and come up with a violence-free and fair general election. No one knows it all, “which is the reason we convened this workshop as all have roles to play for us to have a free and fair election”.

However in a lecture titled violent free elections, delivered by Prof Etannibi Alemika of the University of Jos, blamed the electorate for the woes of the country by allowing themselves to be bought over by politicians, as they do not know their political value.

Alemika said that until the electorates realise their importance they will be ready to elect responsible people into public offices during elections through utilising their votes which makes them equal to anyone including the President on any election day in the country.

He said, “Since the electorates do not know their value they are willing to sell their votes in exchange for cigarettes, rice and in most cases money and at the end make it possible for violent people to take over the system”.

The university don insisted that political violence could be triggered by politicians playing the role of godfathers whose stuck in trade is to impose unpopular candidates on the people, “This imposition leads to political violence during and after elections and should be avoided”.

Alemika said that anyone caught causing election violence despite his level in the society should be sentenced to jail, instead of being allowed to enter into government house as a governor or the state house as a President.

In his contribution, the state APC chairman Fabian Nwankwo called on the conveners of the one day workshop to extend it to all the 17 local government areas of the state including the political ward, stressing that most of the people who are supposed to be at the workshop were not there.

November 13, 2014
American midterm elections, 2014: two-thirds standing beside one-third in the shadow of big capital

Where one thing stands, another thing will stand beside it.
Chinua Achebe, “The Truth of Fiction”

Come and see, American wonder, come and see American wonder!/Come and see American wonder, come and see American wonder!
The single, repeated line of a magicians’ song from my childhood

A big tidal wave, a tsunami, a landslide, a complete and unmitigated rout: these are some of the metaphors or terms that have been applied to the defeat of the Democratic Party by the Republicans in the just concluded American midterm elections of 2014. The defeat is so thorough, so crushing that you have to go back to almost a half century to see something close to it in modern American political and electoral history. The Republicans not only expanded their control of the House of Representatives and regained control of the Senate, they did so by taking seven senatorial seats away from the Democrats, four of those in so-called “purple or swing states” that had voted for Barrack Obama in the presidential elections of 2012. Moreover, in local and state elections around the country, the Republicans wrested control of governorships from states like Maryland and Massachusetts that are some of the “bluest” states in America where “blue” means heavily Democrat, red means heavily Republican and “purple” means a swing state that could vote Democratic or Republican depending on how successful the party which wins such state is in winning voters away from the other party.

As a matter of fact, the thorough defeat of the Democrats was compounded by the fact that many legislatures throughout the length and breadth of the American hinterland are now controlled by the Republicans. This means that with their expanded control of the machinery of local politics and administration across the country, the Republicans can, and will almost certainly, tinker with existing state and local laws so as to redraw the electoral map of the country to tilt things in their favor in future local, state, federal and presidential elections. There is not the slightest doubt about it: this week the Democrats, with their far more progressive positions on internal American and global affairs than the Republicans, suffered an electoral rout greater than any defeat they had experienced in recent memory.

With regard to my own emotions as I sat watching television coverage of the elections on Tuesday night, two things stood out above all others in mind. One: I recalled the famous, tongue-in-cheek observation of the contemporary German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, that because of America’s significance for the rest of the world, all other countries on the planet ought to be able to vote in one way or another in American elections. Two: because as I watched and listened to the tidal wave of the rout of the Democrats I did so as a person from the Third World, a person who divides his time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Ibadan, Nigeria, I was able to see a silver lining of progressive, liberal trends in the dark and ominous clouds of the Republicans’ conservative electoral victory that I imagine most Americans are probably not predisposed to perceive. These two observations lie at the root of my reflections in this piece.

First of all, let me highlight a few of indications of progressive undercurrents in what otherwise looks like a massive endorsement of the Republicans’ conservative politics and policies in the 2014 midterms. Some of these are in fact very pertinent to the state of affairs in the rest of the world, especially in our country and our continent. In this respect, perhaps the single most remarkable feature of these recent American midterm elections is the fact that everywhere in the country in which it was contested as a ballot initiative, an increase in mandatory minimum wage won by huge majorities. This victory for instituting a mandatory minimum wage was all the more remarkable in that it took place in even the “reddest” and most conservative states in the country. This rousing electoral victory for poor and average American working families should be seen against the background of the fact that – again in every part of the country – exit polls of voters indicated that most Americans believe that the American economy is massively rigged to favor the super-rich that constitute less than 2% of the population.

To readers who might think that I am placing so much emphasis on these “hidden” aspects of the 2014 midterm American elections only because I tend to see “talakawas” in every part of the world, my response is that if Americans, since the economic crash of 2008, have been speaking of an ever-widening gap between the few super-rich and the rest of the populace, I can only concur with them, based in part on the evidence of what I see with my own eyes and what I read in mainstream American news media. In this respect, one particularly pertinent thing that I read in virtually all the major news outlets in America is the fact that while these recent elections are by far the costliest in American electoral history, it so happens that these elections also recorded the lowest voter turnout in recent memory. Here are the specifics: the total amount spent was around $3.7 billion and it was financed by 0.2% of America’s population of 316 million; the percentage of registered voters that participated in the elections was about 34%. This is a staggering feature of American democracy at the present moment: electoral victories are being “bought” by lesser and lesser percentages of the population; but this is happening because voter apathy is getting higher and higher. This is why, in his first post-election press conference, Barrack Obama stated that he clearly hears both the verdict of the one-third who did vote in the elections and the verdict of the two-thirds of the electorate who did not vote.

It is instructive to compare the voter turnout figure of 34% in these recent American midterm elections with the figure of close to 85% of registered voters that participated in the referendum on Scotland’s continued membership of the United Kingdom in September. In our own part of the world, the Ekiti State governorship election recorded voter apathy of immense proportions last April. Thus, voter apathy is not a constant and invariant aspect of 21st century democracy in our world. In the first epigraph to this essay, I make an allusion to one of my favorite aphorisms from Chinua Achebe’s writings: where one thing stands, another thing will stand beside it. I must add here that I have never thought that Achebe intended in that adage for us to think that the thing that stands beside another thing does so complacently, lost in confusion or perplexity. Rather, in nature and society, one thing stands beside another as a corrective, an alternative, an indication other choices and directions. The tidal wave of Republican victory in the 2014 midterm elections will be repeated only if the two-thirds continue to stand lamely and ineffectually beside the one-third that is bought and tied up by big capital. American domestic affairs are remarkably similar to the domestic affairs of most of the nations of the planet precisely because in most of the regions and nations of the planet, nearly everyone is in the shadow of big capital. What sets America apart from most of the rest of the world is the fact that its foreign interests and affairs are unlike the foreign affairs and interests of most of the other nations of the world. The Republicans know this and know it well; and they exploit this knowledge to the fullest extent possible. One of the most notable aspects of Obama’s presidency has been the attempt to align and bring closer together American domestic and foreign affairs and interests. He and the Democrats will never succeed in this attempt unless and until they make the idle and complacent two-thirds struggle powerfully against the bought and delivered one-third of the American electorate.

An atheist obsessed with preaching the gospel of the non-existence of God

When, about four and half decades ago I stopped being a Christian and a religionist, one of the things I decided was that I would never seriously concern myself with questions concerning the existence and non-existence of God. This decision was at first rather subconscious; when people tried to draw me into discussion of the issue, I would simply avoid it without any comment. But by the time that I entered into my forties, the decision became something of a guiding ethical principle of my mental and psychic life. As a consequence, I made a solemn promise to myself that as far as religious beliefs and practices were concerned, I would never strive to change any person’s belief in the existence of God and neither would I make it my business to shore up any person’s unbelief in God’s existence. The issues involved in this resolution are very complex and perhaps in future essays in this column, I may take them up.

I make this observation against the background of a response to the recent series in this column on “religion and science, faith and rationality” from one Gilbert Alabi Diche that was titled “Jeyifo, religion and science” and was published last Sunday in this paper on page 15. Before sending this response to the Editor of The Nation on Sunday for publication, Mr. Diche had sent me two long emails in which he argued passionately that I was being too soft, too accommodating to religion in my series. In particular, Mr. Diche argued in his emails to me that I should have kept belief in God completely out of and separate from science and the scientific ethos. In my one response to his two emails, I told Mr. Diche that I had no interest whatsoever in being drawn into the controversy over the existence or non-existence of God. I went further to inform him that the essential difference for me between human beings was not whether one believed or did not believe in God; the essential difference was between those who used either their belief or unbelief in the service of the human community or against the public good.

Apparently, Mr. Diche was not satisfied with my response to his private emails to me and for this reason, he went public and had his rejoinder published last week. Fair enough; that is his right. But he has no right to completely and willfully distort the things I had stated in my series. As a matter of fact, it is extremely damaging to his arguments to resort to deliberate distortions and fabrications of the things I had stated in my series, things that can be very easily shown to be deliberate inventions or fabrications. In most of these fabrications, parts of sentences from diverse parts of the series are brought together through ellipsis to make new sentences or assertions that were not there in my series. The most egregious of these can be found where Mr. Diche writes in his rejoinder last Sunday: “Jeyifo also claims that ‘All Nobel laureates in the sciences … also believe in God’. This is a blatant lie”. This is simply beyond belief because there is no such sentence in any of the three articles in my series on religion and science. As I ponder the reason why Mr. Diche HAD to invent this and other fabrications in his rejoinder, I wonder whether or not he has not metamorphosed into the thing about religion that he so passionately opposes: the human transmitter of the gospel of an avatar that has taken complete control of his rationality, this being the deity of unbelief in the existence of God.

Biodun Jeyifo

bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

November 9, 2014
Adopt Indian model for elections

SIR: Nigerian electoral history is filled to the brim with malpractices, irregularities, thuggery, and rigging. This is so because, in Nigeria, political power is seen not as a means to an end but an end in itself. This explain why the craze for power and its appurtenances always take Machiavellian tactics.

From 1946 till date, there has never been an election in Nigeria that is not controversial. Nigeria’s election is usually a do or die and / or a fight to finish affair. Hence the accompanying post electoral crises.

The electoral crisis that followed Western Region election of 1964 and general election of 1965 were one of the reasons why Nzeogwu and his men struck. The return to civilian rule after 15 years of military interregnum didn’t go without electoral crisis, in fact, it laid the foundation stone of judiciary being the last electoral umpire in Nigeria.

The 2011 general election was epoch making in Nigeria’s electoral history. It shows the world that we know our problems and can independently solve them. The latitude Goodluck Jonathan’s administration gave the Jega-led INEC was the reason INEC conducted an election second to June 12 1993 presidential election- though not without controversies and crisis.

This silver lining in the Nigeria’s electoral sky could be sustained if we emulate the Indian electoral approach.

Indian electoral commission considered the geographical vastness of their country as well as its teeming population in evolving a method for organizing free, fair and credible elections.

India which is today, the world’s largest democracy with – according to this year general election indices – 815 million eligible voters scattered along its vast geography. Indian Government, knowing the irregularities, logistical problems as well as complications that will mar their general election when conducted in a day, structured their general election into phases (2004, it was four phases, 2009, it was four phases, whereas in 2014 it was nine phases) which involved step by step announcement of the election dates and declaration of results at the end of each phase. This method does not just bring transparency to bear but also force also-rans to concede defeat.

This approach when applied in Nigeria will help to make our electoral processes more transparent and well monitored so as to curb the irregularities that have characterized our electoral system. The National Independent Electoral Commission could structure our Presidential election into six phases (based on six geopolitical zones of Nigeria) and organize it within a space of six weeks.

This approach when merged with Jega’s novel televised reporting of results of presidential election by state’s resident electoral commissioner, will ensure more focus and easy election monitoring. And, it will minimize all sorts of electoral malpractices.

• Asikason Jonathan

Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

November 7, 2014
Ogun students meet on 2015 elections

Students of tertiary institutions in Ogun State last Saturday discussed how they can participate in the 2015 general elections at a forum organised by the state’s chapter of Generational Voices (GenVoices). TAIWO ADEBULU reports.

How can the youth help in ensuring violence-free elections in Ogun State in 2015? This was the issue that dominated discussion as some students across higher institutions in the state came together last week at a summit to discuss what could be done to make the youth participate in the elections.

The Ogun State chapter of Generational Voices (GenVoices), a youth advocacy group, organised the summit with the theme: 2015 Elections: Engaging voters in Ogun State. It was held at the JDPC Hall in GRA, Ijebu-Ode. The summit focused on youths and students participation in the elections.

The Ogun co-ordinator of GenVoices, Adebayo Ishola, a Corps member, said the event was to equip the youth with skills and strategies to ensure governorship election in the state is free of violence.

Adebayo said: “We have come to discuss strategies to educate voters on the electoral process to ensure the overall safety and integrity of exercise. Our concern is to build a generation that can rise up to the challenge and ensure peaceful elections are held. We are also out to tell our leaders that young people can effectively participate in governance and bring about desired change.”

The lawmaker representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Gbenga Kaka, who interacted with the students, praised the group for creating a platform where leaders could engage the youth in cross-fertilisation of ideas.

Kaka said: “Some of us are luckier than those of you called youths of today. When I say we are lucky, it is in the sense that we witnessed a lot of sanity in the polity from the Second to the Third Republics unlike the present one. In those days, the value system was sound and we were proud of it. Now, the connection between the old and young generation has been broken.”

The lawmaker apologised for what he called “generational waste” perpetrated by the political class, noting that the youth had been robbed of good governance and political participation. Kaka explained how he became a commissioner when he was 35 years and later became deputy governor. He urged the students to acquire sound knowledge to engage the leaders on issues affecting development and rule of law.

Hon. Abudu Balogun, a member of the House of Representatives from Ijebu North/East Federal Constituency, urged the students to consider their economic status before they engage the leaders for their rights. He said the youth must be part of the stakeholders organising the 2015 election, even if they would not be contesting in the exercise.

In his brief address, Mr. Adesina Kawonise, former Ogun Commissioner for Information, urged the youth to develop skills that will enhance their productivity. He berated what he called the “inappropriate use” of the social media by youths.

During the interactive section, Olufemi Ajayi, a Political Science student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ago-Iwoye decried the hypocrisy of the elders, saying: “They always claim to follow the steps of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his principle. But, you cannot hold them by their words. They simply have no ideological stand.”

Tolulope Oyekanmi, 100-Level Early Childhood Education student of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) in Ijagun, said she was ready to volunteer herself and engage the youth in the state on the need to rise up to be part of governance.

Also at the event were Mr Musibau Ajibola, Mr Daniel Akinlani, Chief Morin Kilo, Yinka Quadri, a Development Consultant, and Dr Lawrence Holumidey, the proprietor of Paragon International School, Abeokuta.

Ayobami Faloye, a youth activist at the event, said he was not moved by speeches of the speakers. He said: “We hear such speeches on this kind of platform. They will come and tell us what we need to do, although they are not willing to concede power to us. The older generation has cheated us and we are ready to take over. The elders won’t leave until we force them out.”

November 6, 2014
APC leaders condemn militarisation of elections

•Nigeria should prepare for 2015, says Aregbesola
•Tambuwal faults IG

all Progressives Congress (APC) leaders have condemned the militarisation of elections in the country.

They spoke yesterday at a victory colloquium, organised by The Gazelle News, for Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island.

The party’s National Legal Adviser, Muiz Banire, in a paper titled: “Osun Election: A Pathway to Nigeria’s Democratic Growth”, said the government does not have the constitutional power to use soldiers during elections.

He said the militarisation of Osun State few days to the election, in the name of providing security, was the misuse of power by the government.

Banire said: “The machinery of federalism had been wiped out as the only thing the Federal Government did not do was declare a state of emergency in Osun.

“Whenever these agents and merchants of death shot into the air, the determined people of Osun hailed the bullet rains with the slogan of ‘APC’ or Aregbesola for second term.’’

The APC chieftain said Aregbesola won the election because he was popular. He said on the eve of the election, there was total clampdown on APC leaders, who were arrested and detained without justification.

He urged the party leadership to field popular candidates in the 2015 elections, saying it was the only way to checkmate rigging.

The moderator, Kawu Baraje, said the PDP was relying on the military to rig the 2015 elections. He urged Nigerians to resist the Federal Government’s impunity.

The APC chieftain added that the PDP was a sinking ship and it was bent on truncating democracy in Nigeria through unconstitutional acts.

Baraje, who represented former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the chairman, said: “The resolution of the people to defend their mandate became a serious challenge to the PDP. Soldiers are being illegally engaged by the government.

“If they were deployed to Sambisa forest to search for the Chibok girls at the appropriate time, I am very sure they would have been reunited with their parents.”

The Special Guest of Honour, Aminu Tambuwal, said he was been vindicated in view of what was happening in the PDP.

He said the reign of impunity in the party was legendary, noting that when Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly defected to the PDP, they were not victimised.

Tambuwal said Nigeria needed a good leader, one who believes in peace, progress and development of the country and the welfare of the people.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives said he was miffed by the pronouncement of the Acting Inspector General of Police, that he (Tambuwal) should vacate his office having left the PDP for APC.

He said: “This country belongs to all of us. We must come together to ensure that we get the right leadership in 2015.

“The IGP did not say Ondo Speaker should vacate his seat. Why is he now making such pronouncement in my own case?

“Is it a case of different laws for different people? Anyway, I have gone to court, so I rest my case.

“I thank Nigerians who stood by me in the face of this impunity. It is our right to decide who we want to relate with and there is nobody who can dictate to me who I should relate with.”

Aregbesola said the situation in Burkina Faso was a signal to Nigerians to gird their loins and prepare for the general elections.

The governor called on the people of Burkina Faso not to allow military rule after the exit of President Blaise Compaore.

Aregbesola urged the Burkinabes to carry the revolution that ousted Compaore to its logical conclusion by forming a national government to conduct election soon.

He said: “We should gird our loins and prepare for any eventualities that may accompany the 2015 general elections.

“I say this because the trend has shown that the election will not come as easy as we may want to think as it is clear that PDP will want to use force to retain power.

“The PDP is not a party that is not unbeatable. For if we beat PDP in Osun, it means we can beat it anywhere and we must beat it everywhere.”

Former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Chairman Monday Ubani said the Osun election had provided a template for future elections.

“In Osun State, stomach infrastructure was also used as a campaign strategy. The people collected whatever item that was offered them, but came out to vote for their choice.”

At the ceremony were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (represented by former Lagos State Commissioner for Youths and Sports Adeniji Adele); former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs. Adejoke Orelope -Adefulire.

Others are Osun State House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salam; House of Representatives Minority Speaker Hakeem Gbajabiamila; APC National Publicity Secretary Lai Muhammed and others

November 3, 2014
More petitions filed to cancel elections

It certainly hasn’t been the very best of times for embattled President of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF), Amaju Pinnick following ascension to office, as SL10.ng can report that more petitions have been filed with the NFF Electoral Appeals committee to have the September 30 elections completely cancelled.

Former NFF executive committee member and contestant for the position of first Vice President in the September 30 elections, Muazu Suleiman has also joined the list of petitioners praying for the election which brought Pinnick in as the NFF President to be cancelled due to some ‘inconsistencies’.

“The electoral committee in 2010 didn’t shy away from doing the right thing as they knocked off certain candidates and they couldn’t contest because the President came from the northern part of Nigeria. The same thing when it came to the state.

“As far as the North-West geopolitical zone was concerned, the election was conducted and Shehu Adamu from Kaduna State emerged in the first round and the second member was to be elected in the second round and Sabo Babayaro was knocked off because he also was from Kaduna State.

That is how it should have been done this time because we can’t have two members from the same state.

“This is the problem and this is the inconsistency and the injustice that I have seen and I am praying for the election to be cancelled,” he said.

November 1, 2014
Appeals C’ttee set to nullify NFF elections

The NFF electoral appeals committee are set to void a September 30 elections that ushered in Amaju Pinnick.

The appeals committee headed by Okey Ajunwa have taken in the appeals of several aspirants and have now set November 12 and 13 for those protested against to make their own case for fair hearing.

“Justice will be served,” declared Ajunwa.

Leonard Igbokwe one of the aspirants protested against this decision, saying he handed in his appeal since October 10 and the appeals committee had two weeks to decide on it.

Sani Fema and Suleyman Muazu are the other aspirants who appealed against the elections.

Fresh elections to the NFF executive committee would be ordered should the elections be finally nullified.

October 31, 2014
Court annuls NFF elections

A Federal High Court sitting in Jos has invalidated the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) election of September 30, 2014 held in Warri.

The NFF polls of September brought Amaju Pinnick into office as president of the federation succeeding Aminu Maigari. But two members of the Chris Giwa-led group went to court to seek redress asking the court to stop the NFF congresses from holding.

Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Jos declared in his ruling on Thursday that “I have set aside all the proceedings and decisions of the Warri Extra-Ordinary meeting of the 20th September and the Elective Congress of 30th September which were direct contraventions of the orders of this court as granted on the 19th September.

“Nobody should foist on the court a complete case of hopelessness so that the principles of law and justice can be upheld. It’s not enough to say that the order of court was wrongly made, no matter how unorthodox, its subsisting orders, unless set aside, remains law and must be respected.

“Defendants in this matter have not filed any counter affidavits in this court to contest the facts. There is no motion nor Memorandum of Appearance. This is a court of Record. On this note, the court has no option to protect the integrity and sanctity of court. Court orders are not tea party. Nobody is above the law. Impunity must be stopped.”

The judge did not treat the contempt issue but added that all “parties (in the suit) are however warned” of disobeying his court.

Supersport.com sources have, however, learnt that the NFF executive committee presided over by Pinnick will apply for a stay of execution of the ruling. The substantive matters in the case were adjourned by Justice Allagoa till November 25.

With this development, there are fears that the world’s football-governing body, FIFA, could be forced to clamp down on the NFF and impose immediate sanctions that will include being barred from international football activities.

FIFA had warned the country’s football federation that should any mishap befall its governance again, the international football body will be left with no option than to apply automatic sanctions that will run till May 2015 when FIFA’s congress holds.

October 24, 2014
NFF Elections to hold September 30

The elections into the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) will now hold on September 30 in Warri, Delta State.

The date was confirmed in a circular sent out on Wednesday by General Secretary of the NFF, Musa Amadu, to stakeholders, following his return to office on Monday.

In the letter, Amadu confirmed the agreement of the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, to host the congress.

The first extra-ordinary General Assembly, that will be convened to elect members of the NFF Electoral Committee, and the NFF Electoral Appeals Committee, will be held on September 20.

October 9, 2014
APC warns against plan to postpone 2015 general elections

NigerianS will reject any attempt by some public officials to elongate their tenure by postponing February’s election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) warned yesterday.

The APC alleged that some elected public officials are working silently to push the election forward, claiming that the nation is at war.

The party’s spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement said: ‘’Election is the lifeblood of democracy, the mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates. It is the only way for the citizenry to renew and refresh the governing process so they can get the most benefits out of democracy. Therefore, anyone that tries to sabotage this mechanism is aiming a dagger straight at the heart of democracy,’’ it said.

The APC said the statement credited to Senate President David Mark, that ‘’there is no question of elections, it is not even on the table now. We are in a state of war,” reflects the thinking in government circles, even though the Senate President, having run into a wall of opposition over his unfortunate statement, has tried to step back from the comments.

‘’We in the APC saw this coming, and we have said it at several fora: That the Jonathan Administration has deliberately allowed the insurgency in the North-east, an opposition stronghold, to fester so he can cash in on it to get re-elected. Simply put, the Administration has been playing dirty politics with Boko Haram, at the expense of the lives and property of the citizenry and the well-being of the nation.

‘’However, the Administration is being too clever by half to think that Nigerians will reward it for its failure in its main reason for existence, which is the protection of the welfare and security of the citizens. There is just no way this government will be allowed to profit from its ineptness and its conspiracy to prolong an insurgency that should have ended a long time ago,’’ the party said.

It said the statement by INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, that the commission has started preparing for elections even in the North-east, represents a ray of hope, but warned the electoral body to remain steadfast and not to cave in to what will be massive pressure from the Jonathan Administration and its gong beaters to scuttle the 2015 elections.

The APC said just like Jega has said, countries like Afghanistan and Iraq successfully held elections even though they are in a state of war, hence there is no reason why Nigeria cannot organize elections because of the insurgency in a part of the country.

‘’We know the Jonathan Administration is mortally afraid to face the electorate, having failed woefully to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. We know many elected officials are also aware that they will be punished by the electorate because they have failed them (the electorate). It is therefore easy for them to queue behind any plot to ensure the 2015 general elections do not hold as planned, so they can get tenure extension.

‘’However, we have got news for these saboteurs: Nigerians have seen through their game and will not allow them to succeed in endangering our democracy. 2015 elections must hold as scheduled. This is not negotiable,’’ the party warned.

September 22, 2014