The All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised alarm
over the relentless scheming by the Jonathan Administration and the PDP to push
for another postponement of the 2015 general elections, unless they can perfect
a rigging plan, and called for the imposition of global sanctions on whoever
scuttles the polls.
In a statement issued in Dubai on Sunday by its
National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the
multi-pronged efforts to prevent the elections from holding as rescheduled
include the use of some 23 portfolio political parties to seek a further shift
in the election dates and the
destabilization of INEC's election plan through the orchestrated removal
of its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
It said the same 23 satellite parties of the PDP that
were used to push for the six-week postponement of the elections have again
started testing the waters by pushing for a further shift in the elections in
the six-states of the North-east, ostensibly to allow the conclusion of the
counter-insurgency battle and also to allow those displaced to return home.
”The plan is to use the same bogey of insecurity in
the North-east to push for another postponement in the elections. The signs are
ominous indeed. The body language of the President and his party does not
support the holding of elections. They are mortally afraid of losing because
the use of PVCs and Card Readers have thwarted their rigging plans ,” APC said.
The party said while the 23 parties are pushing for
the elections to be further postponed, the Jonathan Administration and the PDP
are simultaneously forging ahead with their plan to remove Prof. Jega and
replace him with a malleable acting Chairman whom, they believe, will do their
bidding.
”Once they remove Jega, his replacement will either
seek more time to organize the polls or simply jettison the plan to use Card
Readers, thereby opening the door for those who have been buying up PVCs to use
them.
”Is it not interesting that the same Administration
that has been flaunting free and fair elections as a key achievement has now
gone for the jugular of the same man who organized those polls? Is the man they
don't want not the same person who organized the 2011 polls which the
Administration has described as free, fair and credible? What has now gone
wrong between them and their poster boy for successful elections ? It queried.
APC warned that the consequences of another
postponement of the elections will be dire indeed, especially because it will
create a constitutional crisis that is capable of endangering the country's
democracy and destabilizing the country in its entirety.
The party called on Nigerians, especially the civil
society, to be very vigilant in the days ahead, as the cloud of uncertainty
becomes thicker and the vultures begin to circle.
It also called on the international community to
consider imposing stiff sanctions on key members of the Jonathan Administration
if they force another postponement or scuttle the polls.
”We believe that Nigerians themselves bear the utmost
responsibility for the success of their nation's democracy and the survival of
their country, and we commend those who have stood up to be counted in the
ongoing battle to have free and fair elections.
”However, we also believe that the international
community has a role to play in helping to check the desperadoes who are using
the Laurent Gbagbo rule book as if it was made for them, and who will not
hesitate to bring the whole system crashing down on all if that is what it will
take for them to perpetuate themselves in power.
”Nigeria is too important to be toyed with or allowed
to go under. For example, Nigerians make up more than 56% of the estimated
ECOWAS population of 300 million. A destabilized Nigeria, therefore, is a
destabilized West Africa and, indeed, a hobbled Africa!
”That is why we believe a travel ban and tough
economic sanctions from the international community against these agents of
destabilization will be in order. This is a patriotic call,” APC said.
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