To the relief of many Nigerians, and indeed, the international community, the National Council of State (NCS) rose from its meeting at the Aso Rock Villa on Thursday, February 5, 2015 with a resolution that the February 14 and 28 elections must hold on schedule.
All former heads of state, except former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was absent, unanimously agreed, according to reports, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should proceed with the polls.
That was a wise counsel and nothing short of that would have been expected from such an August body even in this silly season of politics and anomie. Though the NCS is an advisory body, its pronouncements are always weighty and well-considered, which, perhaps, explains why the powers-that-be wanted it to weigh in on the matter.
If the members had agreed with those who wanted the polls to be postponed, the body would have legitimised a plot that is both cynical and dubious.
The agitation for postponement which started innocuously gathered momentum on Thursday, January 22, 2015 when the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), during a talk at London think-tank Chatham House, said he wanted the elections postponed to allow INEC more time to distribute biometric voting cards to Nigerians.
Dasuki said he had already told INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law would be a good idea.
“It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,” he posted.
Why many are still bewildered as to why such a fundamental policy thrust should be broached in London by no less a person than the NSA, back home the advocacy caught on like wild fire in a harmattan season. As if to prove that the call was premeditated, some political parties and other mushroom groups started campaigning that the elections be postponed.
Expectedly, the call was countered by the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which said it would oppose any postponement, even as INEC said it had not received any such official communication from Dasuki.
There is no doubt that these elections are taking place in very difficult and challenging times. Nigerians actually want to exercise their franchise in these elections more than at any other time since the country returned to democracy in 1999. They will be the first where the registered 68.8 million voters must have biometric cards introduced to guard against fraud that has plagued past polls.
Coming at a time when the price of crude oil is at its lowest in recent times, the poll will be litmus test for not only the survival of the Country’s democracy, stability of the polity but also it’s standing in the comity of nations. How it is conducted will be closely watched by investors and foreign powers.
That is why the presidency’s intervention on Friday, a day after the council of State meeting, listing some reasons why the poll should not go ahead as scheduled is unhelpful. Rather than its claim that conducting the poll this month will “throw the country into turmoil and confusion,” it is this newspaper’s considered opinion that the reverse will be the case.
All the intrigues over whether the elections should hold or not smack of the shenanigans that characterised the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election which threw the country into turmoil.
It is curious that the government whose responsibility it is to conduct free and fair elections is the one that is creating suspicion in the minds of the people.
Nigeria is on a precipice and it only needs a shove to tumble. As President Jonathan once said, no life is worth wasting because of anyone’s political ambition. This should not be a time of confusion and obfuscation. Election is not war and any manipulation that will leads to crisis should be avoided.
TheNiche strongly advises that the elections should hold as scheduled since INEC has said for the umpteenth time that it is ready to conduct the polls.
Anything short of this may well spell doom for the country.