TheCable

Ten political parties under the aegis of the coalition of progressive political parties have rejected the call for the postponement of the 2015 elections.

The political parties are Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), African Peoples Alliance (APA), Kowa Party, Mega Progressives Peoples Party (MPPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), United Progressive Party (UPP) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).

In a statement signed by the political parties and delivered to journalists in Abuja on Thursday by Bashir Yusuf, the national chairman of the PDM, the coalition condemned the campaign for postponement of the elections.

“We the undersigned, on behalf of our political parties, are shocked at the conduct of some of our colleagues who have joined the infamous campaign to scuttle Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy by calling for the postponement of the general election barely a week before the election is to commence. We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, this underhand and undemocratic tactic meant to plunge our country into anarchy, on top of the debilitating state of insecurity which has become pervasive in the land,” it said.

“The call for the postponement of the general election has nothing to do with the preparedness of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the election or the pace of distribution and collection of permanent voter card. INEC, the authority empowered by law to fix the date of the election had said, countless times, it is ready and prepared to conduct a free, fair and credible election on February 14 and 28.

“As a matter of fact, Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC and his colleagues in the commission, had stated time and time again, that they had four years to prepare for the election and they will deliver better election this time around. The military, led by the chief of defence staff, had guaranteed adequate security on land and air for a successful and safe conduct of the 2015 general election. This ought to have settled the fears about the security of lives and property as well as of the electorates and INEC officials. Governors and citizens of the states under attack by insurgents have not complained either to INEC or the executive and legislative arms of government that their citizens will be disenfranchised if elections were held in their states.”

The political parties alleged that the call for the postponement of the elections was engineered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is bent on scuttling the elections.

“The call for the postponement of the general election is, therefore, a call orchestrated by one of the political parties, which has continued to invest huge sums of money to ensure the elections do not hold as scheduled, out of fear of losing power for the first time since 1999. Our democracy has come of age and Nigerians are ready for change, we will not allow desperation and power-mongering to scuttle it and will do whatever is necessary to defend it and ensure that the general election holds as scheduled,” it said.

“We call on INEC not to be intimidated by desperate elements and to proceed with its preparations for the general election as scheduled. We assure INEC we shall stand by it, shoulder to shoulder, to ensure our democracy is not undermined. We urge all major stakeholders, especially well-meaning political parties and their presidential candidates, INEC and the national assembly as well as all the security agencies in the country to stand together to ensure that the 2015 general election is conducted as scheduled and guarantee that Nigeria survives to face another general election in 2019.

“We call on friends of Nigeria and the International community at large to stand with Nigeria in these very trying times and put pressure on the authorities to comply with the timetable of democratic elections as released by INEC. We call on Nigerians to be vigilant and protect their hard-earned democracy and their freedom to choose those who will govern them. Nigerians must know freedom is not given on a platter of gold. It is earned and, like all truly democratic nations, the time has come for us to earn our freedom from those whose agenda is to subjugate us for sixty uninterrupted years whether we like it or not. The alternative to this is to allow ourselves and our children to be enslaved by those who do not wish us and our country well.”

The group also stated that the “elements” who scuttled the 1993 presidential election were the same ones scheming for the postponement of the elections.

“These are trying times. This is not the first time desperate and undesirable elements come together to scuttle our democracy for their selfish ends. We remember June 12, 1993 and the role played by these elements to scuttle Nigeria’s democracy and the chain of events which ensued. It is not surprising that the same characters are again at work.

“If Nigerians would look closely, they will realise these characters are still around and have coalesced in the same political party, which is now leading this charge to postpone the elections without credible and acceptable explanation other than the fear of losing power for the first time. What is our democracy worth if some shadowy and anti-democratic interests can come together and change the rule in the middle of the game?” it queried.

“As Nigerians, we can seize the opportunity of this moment to settle the question of ‘To whom does power belong?’ once and for all or allow the opportunity to slip through the cracks and continue to live as victims of our own indifference. The choice is ours to make and the time to make that choice is now. Let our slogan be from today, on February 14 we stand.”