A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned that the March
28 and April 11 elections may be sabotaged by anti-democratic forces,
which could lead the military to stage a coup d’etat and set in place an
interim government.
Mr. Falana, who stated this in a speech delivered at the Foursquare
Gospel Church owned Life Theological Seminary, Ikorodu, on Sunday, said
despite assurances by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Independent
National Electoral Commission, there was no indication that the election
will hold as billed.
He also warned of the likelihood of post-election violence should the vote go forward.
Both President Jonathan and the Independent Electoral Commission
chair, Attahiru Jega, have maintained that the new election dates are
sacrosanct.
“There is no indication that the election will hold,” he said. “If
the INEC goes ahead with the conduct of the elections there are fears
that the exercise may be sabotaged by anti-democratic forces. If the
election holds the results may be rejected leading to a post-election
violence which may threaten the corporate existence of the nation.
“In the circumstance, an interim government may be established and be
saddled with the task of preparing the country for another political
transition. In the alternative, a coup d’etat that may be staged by the
top echelon of the armed forces under the pretext of restoring law and
order and fighting the menace of insurgency. The military wing of the
ruling parties succeeded in Mali and Burkina Faso. But having divided
the country along ethnic and religious lines, the masterminds of the
political crisis are not likely to profit from the perfidy.”
He therefore, asked Nigerians to prepare “for a long drawn out battle
for the liberation of the country from political and economic
predators”.
In his speech, the lawyer commended the renewed onslaught against the
deadly terror group, Boko Haram, in the North-East region of Nigeria by
both the federal government and the Nigerian military.
He, however, asked the military to discontinue the court martial of
several solders who had earlier complained about lack of sophisticated
weapons to face the insurgents.
He said the government’s admittance that it purchased new equipment
for the fight to succeed, meant that the soldiers were justified in the
earlier protest.
He also asked the Federal Government to implement the recommendations
of the Ambassador Usman Gilmatiri presidential panel on insurgency in
the north east region and embark on a special programme to address the
problems of child education and youth unemployment in the region.
On the state of the nation’s economy, Mr. Falana said the bulk of the
intervention funds created by the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration
was for the rich.
According to Mr. Falana, the funds including- Agricultural Credit
Guarantee Scheme (N69billion); Commercial Agricultural Credit Guarantee
Scheme (N200billion); the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System
for Agricultural Lending (N200billion); Small and Medium Enterprises
Credit Guarantee Scheme (N200billion); the SMEs Restructuring and
Refinancing Scheme (N200billion) and Power and Airlines Intervention
Fund (N300billion) are yet to have effect on the economy.
“Sequel to the crash in the price of crude oil the Federal Government
announced that austerity measures would be imposed on the hapless
Nigerian people,” he said. “Because of the gross mismanagement of the
economy by the government and its allies workers are now salaries for
months. After the elections the people are going to be made to bear the
brunt of the looting of the treasury and costs of running the
government.
“But in spite of the grinding poverty in the land Nigerian
legislators are said to be the highest paid in the world. The country’s
public officers equally receive the highest estacodes in the world. With
over 10 aircraft Nigeria has the largest presidential fleet among the
developing nations in the world.”
The lawyer also accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of “dollarization of the economy”.
“In a bid to dollarize the economy and destroys the Nigerian
economy the CBN supplies millions of dollars to the foreign exchange
market on a weekly basis,” he said. “Although Nigeria has become the
largest importer of the United States dollars in the world neither the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) nor the World Bank has ever questioned
the reckless devaluation of the economy. Even, the National Assembly
which is debating the 2015 Appropriation Bill has not deemed it to
consider the deleterious effects of the increasing devaluation of the
national currency on the implementation of the Budget.”
The media was also not left out as Mr. Falana accused the media of
diverting attention from Nigeria’s problem of youth unemployment,
infrastructural decay, insecurity, corruption, currency devaluation to
giving undue prominence to the campaign of calumny and character
assassination embarked upon by some politicians.
“The media have thrown caution to the winds by colluding with certain
politicians to divert attention from the crises of youth unemployment,
infrastructural decay, insecurity, corruption, currency devaluation
etc,” he said. “Thus, by giving undue prominence to the campaign of
calumny and character assassination embarked upon by some politicians
the media have denied the Nigerian people the opportunity to make
informed decisions on the candidates of their choice.”
