2015 poll may lead to violent eruptions, Falana warns Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, on Monday warned that lack of preparedness on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as witnessed in the just concluded governorship election in Anambra State might lead to violent eruptions in the 2015 general elections. He, however, noted that the management of the post-elections violence by the gladiators will go a long way in defining whether Nigeria will still remain as one nation or not. The lawyer, who spoke in Lagos, said the fears being expressed by some people that Nigeria might break up in 2015 can be founded in some recent events happening in the country now. According to him, there are some Nigerians who believed that Nigeria will witness another civil war if President Goodluck Jonathan should stand for election in 2015. “It is not in the interest of any faction of the ruling class to balkanise the country. It is also not in the interest of imperialism to have Nigerian broken up into pieces. “However, with the lack of readiness on the part of the INEC as witnessed in the just concluded Anambra State governorship election there are genuine fears that the 2015 general elections crisis may lead to violent eruptions,” Falana warned. He added: “Such fears cannot be dismissed. More so, that terrorist attacks may make election impossible in certain parts of the country while some candidates may be kidnapped. “There are also threats that the country will be plunged into war if President Jonathan is not re-elected”. Falana also recalled some disturbing trends in the polity such as the backing given to five legislators to impeach Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Presidential support given to Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, who scored 16 votes as against Amaechi who scored 19 during the Governors’ Forum election as another issue why some Nigerians are nursing the fear of war during the coming election. “Such threats cannot be dismissed having regard to the federal support for 5 instead of 27 legislators in Rivers State and 16 instead of 19 Governors in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. “From all indications the management of the post election crisis by the ruling class will define the future of the country,” he said. Chairman of the of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, Segun Olulade, also expressed fear over the capacity of the present administration to conduct free and fair elections in 2015 “given what the nation has just witnessed.” In a statement on Monday, Olulade, who called for outright cancellation of Anambra election, said “the fact that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attairu Jega, has accepted himself that his electoral mechanism was compromised shows that the process has failed.” Olulade was reacting to INEC’s declaration of the election inconclusive. He lamented that “high level rigging and electoral ineptitude demonstrated by INEC is a clear statement to the entire nation that 2015 general election is unsure to be free and fair”. He added that irregularities that marred the election was too obvious and that this has given the nation an electoral setback before the whole world. The lawmaker reiterated that “if what we are experiencing continues that way, the INEC and present administration are gradually calling for anarchy,” adding the recent development is nothing but a national embarrassment. “In electoral history, I have never seen where a section of the state where a popular candidate has his strong hold, was outrightly marginalised; candidate of a particular party and his entire family was delisted from voters’ register; electorate’s names conspicuously missing; late arrival of voting materials, and many more abnormalities were recorded”. Lagos Assembly later in a resolution on Monday, like the APC, called on INEC to cancel the Anambra election because of the widespread irregularities. It also called on the electoral umpire to immediately prepare for a new election in the state. The resolution followed a motion by the member representing Ifako-Ijaye Constituency 2, Ipoola Omisore, under Matter of Urgent Public Importance calling the attention of his colleagues to the controversy that trailed the governorship poll in Anambra State. According to Omisore, the election was conducted “under an atmosphere of chaos and a lot of irregularities with the sitting Governor and INEC acting out an already prepared script. “Non-accreditation, missing names in voter’s register, observers disallowed from visiting polling stations, a national official of the opposition party APC virtually under house arrest. “One wonders what INEC will do in 2015 if they can’t handle election in one state. We should let Nigerians know that our democracy is under threat, with money playing a major role and power of incumbency grossly abused. “There is no way that election can be accepted, the world is watching, it is worrisome that we can’t still conduct a free and fair election after about 14 years of practising democracy,” Omisore lamented. Supporting the call for cancellation, Gbolahan Yishawu said Anambra is a litmus test for 2015 and “I must say it is very embarrassing; a situation where a governorship candidate and his entire family could not find their names in the voter’s register”. He wondered that “while other nations were developing and progressing with technology we are using it for sinister motives here.” Hodewu Suuru Avoseh, in his contribution, said the situation calls for concern, adding: “Where are we going if INEC cannot hold election in just one state. It shows that INEC has become a political party, it is obvious that Jega has lost control”. Another member, Bisi Yusuf, saw the situation as a grand design to ridicule the APC “and make a popular party an unpopular party.” Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its own reaction, urged INEC to cancel the Anambra governorship election “because that is the only path of honour to take”. According to the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, “Any attempt to uphold that election would tantamount to official endorsement of criminal rigging of election. “Besides, it will send a tragic signal from the electoral body to Nigerians and the world that this country is in utter contempt for democratic ideals, and has no intention whatsoever to uphold the basic tenets of free choice in the electoral process”. Describing the Anambra poll as an “outrageous display of perfidy”, the APC chieftain asked, if the INEC could hand over its own official to the police for criminal action against the electoral process, “how come it still went ahead to announce a flawed result for a criminally compromised election?” Oyatomi prayed INEC to do its utmost to avoid being accused of complicity in the charade of Anambra poll because if it allows itself to lose credibility in the eyes of the public, the Fourth Republic will be on a path of self-destruction. Osun State APC also expressed fear on the whereabouts of the 181 election monitors who were arrested in Owerri, Imo State capital. The party insisted that the affected persons were arrested on trump up charges of attempting to disrupt the governorship election in Anambra election. According to the APC, “When police brought a number of them to the court on Monday before a magistrate the presiding magistrate adjourned the case for two hours with the instruction that the police should bring everybody arrested and are on the charge sheet before he would hear the case. “The police reportedly left the court premises, stayed away for a while and then stormed the court premises, corking their guns and in a terrorist-like operation, carted away the people they had brought originally to an unknown destination.” Defence lawyers who were in shock at the action of the police had no explanation for the development, the party noted. REPORT BY DAILY INDEPENDENT
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 06:54:05 +0000
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