Okooo...A former Head of State and Chairman of
the National Peace Committee for 2015 General Elections, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has ruled out the possibility of an
Interim National Government saying he believes in the assurance of the
Federal Government.
He also stated that the Peace Committee,
made up of security chiefs, party chieftains and religious leaders,
would be meeting with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to clear the controversies surrounding
the use of card readers in the elections.
The
elder statesman spoke with journalists on Thursday night in Abuja after
a five-hour meeting held with the stakeholders to ensure that President
Goodluck Jonathan and the presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) abide by the Abuja
Accord on the prevention of violence and acceptance of election results.
The accord was sponsored by two world
reputable men of peace: former Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Mr. Kofi Annan and ex-Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka
Anyaoku.
According to him, elections will hold on March 28 as scheduled, while the May 29 handover date remains sacrosanct.
He equally called on party leaders to
call their followers to order, warning that the country cannot afford to
entertain violence after the elections.
Abdulsalami said, “We are aware of the
controversies surrounding the use of card readers and we are going to
meet with the INEC on this issue. We are going to meet him to educate us
on where they are on this matter.
“We are going to have a meeting with the chairman of INEC to ascertain what has been done regarding their preparedness.
“We have been meeting to review where we
stopped at the last meeting. We are aware that the election dates have
been shifted. There have been a lot of rumours circulating around the
country whether there are plans to form an interim government.
“The President has affirmed that
elections will hold on March 28 and there is no issue of interim
government. The Attorney-General of the Federation has also said there
is nothing like interim government. He has also said that there are no
plans to have an interim government. We are appealing to Nigerians to
focus on exercising their rights on election day.
“During the meeting here, we were
fortunate to have the chairman of APC and representative of the PDP
chairman. We are appealing to our youths to ensure that they are not
used as thugs. It is always the children of the poor that are used
during the elections. We appeal to party leaders to tell their
supporters and candidates to be law-abiding. We must ensure that the
peace we have had so far is sustained.
According to him, the committee, like
every Nigerian, is not happy with the violence and what happened in
Okrika, Rivers state. He urged Nigerians to maintain peace during the
elections.
The meeting was attended by APC national
chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, PDP Deputy National Legal Adviser,
Alhaji Bashir Maidugu, Presidential Adviser on inter-party Affairs,
Chief Ben Obi, and Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Dr. Tanko
Yunusa, amongst many others.
In an interview with journalists, Oyegun
said he aligned with the position of the INEC chairman that only the
military could determine whether election would take place on March 28.
He said, “The INEC chairman was being
realistic (on election date), I am not comfortable (with INEC chairman’s
stance on March 28). I was not comfortable with it in the first time
and am still not comfortable with it, but he was being realistic.
“Part of the problem in this country is
that electoral violence refuses to abate because law is not being
enforced. If there is law enforcement added to our own appeal, I think
we will see abatement. But if there is selective law enforcement,
because of this power of incumbency, then you cannot expect it to abate.
“There must be change, there has to be
change, if we de-escalate the un-necessary political war that is going
on now. There is massive attack on INEC, massive attack on the use of
PVCs, the massive court actions that are going on now to have our
candidate disqualified and even have the PVCs declared illegal by the
court of law.
“In law, you can get any kind of judgement, anything before the court is 50-50,” Oyegun added.
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