The All Progressives Congress has warned those nursing the plan to
postpone the 2015 general elections to perish the thought, saying
Nigerians will not accept, under any guise whatsoever, any scheme by
desperate elected officials to get tenure elongation by subterfuge.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said those who are flying the
kite of pushing forward the election ostensibly because the nation is at
war are trying to imperil the nation’s democracy.
”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.
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.
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.