•Akande, Bakare disagree over poll shift
Former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare and former governor of Osun State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande have expressed divergent opinions on the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the February 14 elections.
Throwing his weight behind the postponement in Lagos, Chief Anyaoku, believed it would have been a national embarrassment if the February 14 elections had held as scheduled, since it was obvious that INEC was ill-prepared for the elections.
Anyaoku , who was part of the committee that initiated the Abuja Peace Accord among the nation’s presidential candidates, however, expressed the hope that the March 28 date would be honoured, since he believed the commission is now more prepared than it had earlier claimed.He also expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance of the nation’s political parties to the Abuja Peace Accord, noting that the parties’ chieftains, especially the chairmen, had been able to exercise some moderating influence on the party followers.
On his part, General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, argued that the poll shift was necessary to ease the palpable tension in the country then.
According to him, despite Nigerians’ readiness to go for the February 14 polls, it was obvious that INEC was not prepared to conduct the election, going by the slow pace the PVCs were being distributed in the country then and the state of security in some parts of the country.
But former governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, argued that the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was only running away from election.
Describing the postponement as unhealthy for the nation’s nascent democracy, the APC chieftain believes for the nation’s democracy to be properly nurtured, politicians must be ready to play by the rules.
He believed no reason would be acceptable for such postponements if war-torn countries such as Sudan and Iraq still manage to conduct elections in their respective countries.
‘The ruling party is trying to run away from election. It is anti-democratic. They are doing election in Iraq, they are holding election in Sudan, which is even at war, so why can’t we in Nigeria? The president is running away from election, it’s not good.
‘If we say election would hold on those dates, didn’t we know there is crisis there before choosing the dates? What is the difference between the old date and the new one? Not much.
‘I see the government party running away from election. And no matter what they do, we will pin them down and hold the election in Nigeria. Nigeria is a democratic country, there must be election. That is the essence of democracy. They must not run away, we shouldn’t allow anybody to run away from election,’ he stated.
Source: Tribune
Former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare and former governor of Osun State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande have expressed divergent opinions on the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the February 14 elections.
Throwing his weight behind the postponement in Lagos, Chief Anyaoku, believed it would have been a national embarrassment if the February 14 elections had held as scheduled, since it was obvious that INEC was ill-prepared for the elections.
Anyaoku , who was part of the committee that initiated the Abuja Peace Accord among the nation’s presidential candidates, however, expressed the hope that the March 28 date would be honoured, since he believed the commission is now more prepared than it had earlier claimed.He also expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance of the nation’s political parties to the Abuja Peace Accord, noting that the parties’ chieftains, especially the chairmen, had been able to exercise some moderating influence on the party followers.
On his part, General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, argued that the poll shift was necessary to ease the palpable tension in the country then.
According to him, despite Nigerians’ readiness to go for the February 14 polls, it was obvious that INEC was not prepared to conduct the election, going by the slow pace the PVCs were being distributed in the country then and the state of security in some parts of the country.
But former governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, argued that the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was only running away from election.
Describing the postponement as unhealthy for the nation’s nascent democracy, the APC chieftain believes for the nation’s democracy to be properly nurtured, politicians must be ready to play by the rules.
He believed no reason would be acceptable for such postponements if war-torn countries such as Sudan and Iraq still manage to conduct elections in their respective countries.
‘The ruling party is trying to run away from election. It is anti-democratic. They are doing election in Iraq, they are holding election in Sudan, which is even at war, so why can’t we in Nigeria? The president is running away from election, it’s not good.
‘If we say election would hold on those dates, didn’t we know there is crisis there before choosing the dates? What is the difference between the old date and the new one? Not much.
‘I see the government party running away from election. And no matter what they do, we will pin them down and hold the election in Nigeria. Nigeria is a democratic country, there must be election. That is the essence of democracy. They must not run away, we shouldn’t allow anybody to run away from election,’ he stated.
Source: Tribune
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