More political parties, others oppose polls shift

MORE stakeholders, including political parties and regional groups, have expressed opposition to postponement of the general elections scheduled to hold nationwide this month.

  Members of a coalition of ten political parties yesterday rose from an emergency meeting with the resolve that the February general elections must hold as scheduled. 

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, who spoke to reporters in Abuja expressed shock at the conduct of some of his colleagues whom he said have joined what he termed “the infamous campaign to scuttle Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy” by calling for postponement of the general election barely a week before the exercise is expected to begin.

  Flanked by members of the coalition, Ibrahim condemned the alleged underhand and undemocratic tactic to plunge the country into anarchy on top of the debilitating state of insecurity which has become pervasive in the land.

 He insisted that the call for the postponement of the general elections has nothing to do with the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the elections or the pace of distribution and collection of Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC).

  Chanting the slogan “On February 14, we stand”, Ibrahim urged INEC to go ahead and discharge it’s duties in the face of harassment and intimidation from those canvassing the shift of the polls. “INEC, the authority empowered by law to fix the date of the election has said countless times that it is ready and prepared to conduct a free, fair and credible election on February 14th and 28th. As a matter of fact, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC and his colleagues in the commission have stated time and time again, that they have four years to prepare for the election and they will deliver better election this time around. 

“The military led by the Chief of Defence Staff has guaranteed adequate security on land and air for a successful and safe conduct of the 2015 general election. This ought to have settled the fears about the security of life and property, and of the electorates and INEC officials. Governors and residents of the states under attack by insurgents have not complained either to the INEC or the executive and Legislative arms of government that people will be disenfranchised if elections are held in their states.

  “The call for postponement of the general elections is, therefore, a call orchestrated by one of the political parties which has continued to invest huge sums of money to ensure the elections do not hold as scheduled, out of fear of losing power for the first time since 1999. Our democracy has come of age and Nigerians are ready for change, we will not allow desperation and power-mongering to scuttle it and will do whatever is necessary to defend it and ensure that the general election holds as scheduled.”

  Arewa and Itsekiri leaders, who have resolved to work together toward the successful conduct of the forthcoming general elections,  called on the Federal Government to ensure that there is no postponement of the polls.

  In a joint statement issued by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought yesterday, both groups stated that they have decided to work together, calling on other socio-cultural associations across the country to prevail on the government not to contemplate shifting the elections.

Besides, the meeting by the leaders of ACF and Itsekiri, according to the statement, “discussed and agreed on various national issues of interest to the two groups in particular, and Nigerians in general”.