TWENTY-FOUR hours to the inauguration of new political leadership at both the federal and state levels, Nigeria today is on tenterhooks.
Police presence was beefed up across the cities yesterday ahead of the two-day sit-at-home protests declared by the civil society and Labour leaders to begin today.
The proponents of the protests said that there was no going back on their plan, declaring that it would be morally indefensible to allow the “flawed polls of April in Nigeria to hold.”
The arrow-heads of the planned protests insisted on the convocation of an Interim National Government (ING) to conduct election, and decried the Electoral Act which does not stipulate the conclusion of election disputes before oath taking by politicians as was the case in the 1979 Constitution.
Members of the opposition under the aegis of Nigeria United for Democracy (NUD) and the coalition of Civil Society Organisation (CSO) restated their opposition to tomorrow’s inauguration of new administrations across the country, insisting that it must not hold because they did not derive from the wishes of the Nigerian people.
NUD National Chairman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite and CSO’s spokesperson, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, at different fora in Lagos, yesterday handed down the position of the two groups.
Dr. Braithwaite faulted attempt to inaugurate people whose election, according to him, had been globally adjudged to be flawed and below the least standard in the world.
The NUD chairman particularly decried the hurry to inaugurate those whose elections were disputed without waiting for the resolution of the disputes at the tribunals.
He wondered why the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to depart from the tradition of resolving disputes before the swearing in as was the case in the suit between the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic.
His words: “Before we substantiate our assertion, let me quickly refer you to a time that this basic feature (no inauguration before electoral restitution) was accepted and practised here in Nigeria. Please, recall the infamous two-thirds of 19 states judgment in Awolowo vs Shagari case of 1979.”
Continuing, Braithwaite said: “The relevance of that case to our position is that Nigerians are perfectly entitled to demand justice, before any candidate whose mandate is disputed is forced on them. The Awo vs Shagari case was decided and resolved, prior to the inauguration of Shagari and so were all other election disputes of that time.”
He noted that the practice of resolving electoral disputes before swearing-in was the trend all over the world and that Nigeria of today should not be an exception.
Reiterating NUD’s call for an interim government, Braithwaite expressed belief that although it is not provided for in the constitution, the ING more logical and acceptable than installing “unelected persons.”
Braithwaite, who is also the national chairman of the Nigerian Advance Party (NAP), warned that more serious political disaster awaited the country should the result of the elections stand.
He based his warning and fear on the unprecedented majority seats of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the National Assembly and some of the states assemblies, believing that the ruling party could use this to achieve its goal of changing the constitutional four-tenure to seven or more years.
“The first thing the PDP legislators would do in those circumstance, would be amendment of the constitution to substitute the four-year tenure of office to seven – 10 years and remove the two-term limit as well,” he stated.
Braithwaite said that the two-day protest would hold, stressing that the action would mark the beginning of change in the country.
Letting out how the opposition would engage the incoming government, Braithwaite said: “The protest against this unprecedented and monumental rape of democratic principles has already started; it will surely escalate but in a peaceful manner until an interim administration takes over the governance of this country.”
The CSO spokesperson, Odumakin and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) national chairman, Chief Ralph Nwosu urged Nigerians to participate fully in the protest.
Nwosu told The Guardian that the presidential candidates of the various parties would lead the protest in Abuja tomorrow while the governorship candidates would lead the protest at the level of the states.
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) also called on its members nationwide and all true democrats to join Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) in their determination to salvage Nigeria.
In a statement yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the coalition, Mr. Osita Okechukwu said: “Our considered view rates the salvation of our nascent democracy as a national duty and urges all compatriots to join us on the second phase of the struggle billed to take off post inauguration.”
The group continued: “We have for the umpteenth time stated that the sham elections must be cancelled as any government coming out of the charade will remain illegitimate no matter any grandstanding. The illegality cannot stand, otherwise it becomes eternal slavery.”
It recalled that huge sums were spent by the government for the election with the controversial results. The group said: “Let us not forget that after spending over N60 billion on the elections, President Olusegun Obasanjo and his co-travellers in INEC deliberately subverted the peoples will, on the assumption that the opposition will embark on spontaneous mass action, which he could have capitalized on to declare a nation-wide state of emergency. We refused to fall into the booby trap. The time is now to return to the trenches.”
The CNPP is, however, unwavering in its opposition to the new leaderships that have emerged. It said: “Whereas, CNPP commends all those who in one way or the other fought on the side of our dear country to defeat the evil Third Term, which today makes it imperative for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to retire in two days time (tomorrow) to his farm; however we wish to appeal for concerted effort to pull down the illegitimate government imposed on us.”
It continued: “The world cannot be wrong, a receiver of stolen good in law is a thief and there is no posturing or propaganda that will erase the truism that Governor Umaru Yar’Adua and his cohorts in PDP were not elected by lawful votes. The non-compliance and corrupt practices that characterised the sham elections had substantially eroded the credibility of the process and atrophied our political culture. We must beware of negative political culture, once it takes root, it becomes very difficult to uproot.”
The CNPP commended the Elie Wiesel Foundation (EWF), the European Union, the Trade Union Congress of United Kingdom, the Carter Foundation and other foreign governments which “appreciate the sordid scenario that we found ourselves which is the outcome of the inordinate ambition of one man to rule for life.”
It appealed to all “to stand up and defend our hard-won democracy, for history has shown that freedom is never achieved on a platter of charity but must be earned.”
The group added: “We are aware that it is not going to be a 100 meter dash, it is a marathon race as the election was deliberately, as we pointed out, bungled to precipitate crisis that could have created the material conditions for national state of emergency. We consciously avoided this booby trap.”