2015: ANOTHER ELECTION POSTPONEMENT; A MISCHIEVOUS MOVE.

At the birth of our democracy in 1999, the People Democratic Party (PDP) appealed to Nigerians to seek refuge under the ‘umbrella’ from the rain of military dictatorship, while some were deceived to embrace the umbrella, as against the alternative of a ‘corn’ which presented itself as a better choice for the people; our democracy will be 16years of non-directional rigmarole by May 29, 2015, yet our democracy remains a malnutritioned infant and our independence seems like a charade, while we celebrate the daylight mediocrity of some of our present and past leaders, who have successfully plunged our heritage into inadequacies and address our heritage as a mere geographical landscape, instead of a country.

It is no gain saying that, the further postponement of the Independent National Electoral Comission (INEC) rescheduled election dates will affirm the desperation of the ruling party to stick to the deadly security situation in the North Eastern part of Nigeria and hold on to power beyond the constitutional provision, it will also be conceived as a ploy to either hold the elections in not more than 150 days after the expiration of the incumbent administration which is still within the ambit of the provisions in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended), if perhaps it is not followed by a Military coup as predicted by a lot of Nigerians, or to conduct the general elections at a time after the expiration of the present Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) boss tenure of office; this will be perceived as a mischievous move to push for more plans to get a stooge of the ruling party as a replacement, who will damn the consequences of electioneering manipulations against the major opposition political parties.

The postponement of the forthcoming general elections slated for the 28th of March & 11th of April, 2015 will ultimately make the results not credible, unacceptable, estimated, and doctored in favor of the ruling party, it will also further heat up the polity and might unleash the dealiest dragons in the political key players; which does not only have the capacity of becoming a replica of either the 1983 general elections or the Military annulled 1993 Presidential election but also has the potential of actualizing the evil plans of some elements to tear our heritage apart in fulfillment of their personal gains; their names will be written in red inks on a white banner, as history will not leave them and their generations unpunished.

Unarguably, the forthcoming general elections as rescheduled for March, 2015 is the most tensioned, ethnic inclined, emotions filled, religious sentimental, affections engrossed, financial resources driven, as we have seen the use of derogatory and undemocratic words, numerous anti-All Progressives Congress (Anti-APC) sponsored adverts on national dailies and on Television stations, physical attacks from the ruling party on members of the opposition, mudslinging of persons and political parties characterized, assassination of characters satisfied, unimaginable ethnographic divisions, religious sentimentality filled, and in addendum it is the first time in our polity when Nigerians will be given a strong opposition party to challenge the ‘a decade & a half’ misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has led to the travesty and façade that has eventually envelope the electioneering campaigns.

Unarguably, the world cameras are tilted towards the unfolding of the mysteries in our country, as we make a mockery of ourselves and prepare to converge at the polls with our Permanent Voter Cards. Indeed, this is a shame on some members of our ruling class and bystanders who have resulted to sitting on the fence as regards the murky process, we have been offered by the leadership of INEC in terms of the distribution process of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and the sluggish process of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) for people who did not partake in the 2011 voters registration, as evidently orchestrated by the Jonathan led administration. Nigerians must be educated that successful countries have recorded milestone achievements, as a result of the determination of their leaders to serve the people with less blemish, setbacks and attacks on opposition political parties and neither by practicing democracy in the shabby manner it is done in our country nor is it a science discovery.

Nonetheless, we remain resolute and confident that patriotic Nigerians and our well wishers will coarsely reject the move of the presidency and the ruling party to further postpone the rescheduled 28th of March and 11th of April, 2015 general elections which has the tendency of resulting to a breakdown of law and order in our dear country, as reports reaching us reveals that the President Jonathan led administration has kicked off plans to further shift the elections by giving bribes to unidentified corrupt members of the Sen. David Mark (Peoples Democratic Party) led National Assembly and whack the electoral commission to an inner corner, as against the Prof. Attahiru Jega led Independent National Electoral Commission continually swim against the tides and achieve its bid to ensure that eligible voters are not disenfranchised in the rescheduled forthcoming polls.

Conclusively, it will be better for the presidency and the ruling party to avoid taking the sick Nigerian populace in the wrong direction like Laurent Gbagbo of Codevoire (Ivory Coast) but rather sail the Nigerian ship towards a direction free from icebergs and whirlwind, which will aid a safer navigation and eventually a protected stop at the dockyard of progress, growth and development. Nigeria is our collective inheritance and we must do everything possible to protect her from self served politicians who are determined to stop at nothing to achieve their selfish goals and make her better.

Kazeem Sulaiman
sulaimanadeshina@yahoo.com
@KazeemDiarY