Bakare canvassesthree-year transitiongovernment

Bakare canvassesthree-year transitiongovernment

Source:The Guardian

FORMER Vice Presidential candidate of the
defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC),

Pastor Tunde Bakare, has called for the jettison of
the 2015 elections, saying that a three-year
transitional government should be put in place,
which would adopt the report of the just-
concluded national conference to avoid an
imminent crisis in the country.

In a message to the nation titled: ‘The Nigeria
of My Dream’ which he delivered yesterday to
mark the end of the week-long ceremony of his
60-year birthday anniversary, Bakare said it
would be in the best interest of Nigeria and
Nigerians to postpone the 2015 elections.

Reiterating the fact that the current situation in
Nigeria and particularly the insurgency in North-
East would not allow proper elections in areas
affected by the activities of Boko Haram
terrorists, the cleric said: “Nigeria needs not less
than three years extension - whichever way the
politicians sees it does not matter - to resolve
several issues, otherwise an election in this
situation would throw up a lot of crises.

“On the contrary, the political class should state
how the election would hold without rancour.”
The cleric also said that in his capacity as a
servant of God and a watchman mandated to
warn the nation ahead of impending danger,
stated: “I have already made it clear to the nation
that we need a transitional arrangement to pilot
our nation out of this chaos before we can talk
about elections.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear because
at this sensitive period in our polity when the
nation seems to be tottering on the edge of a
precipice, is a general election the solution to our
crises or will elections aggravate the problem?”
Drawing inferences from the scriptures, Bakare
averred that the dire security situation in the
country and the political hostility between the
northern and southern parts of the country ahead
of the election, which many Nigerians and
international community consider may make or
mar poll in the political history of Nigeria is not
what we can overlook at this critical moment.

According to him: “With parts of the North under
the siege of Boko Haram in the form of outright
territorial control in some cases and guerilla-
styled terror attacks in others and with the
government failing to bring the situation under
control, what is the guarantee that there will
indeed be general elections in 2015?

“Even if elections are held successfully in some
parts of the country, would results be conclusive
without elections in the troubled parts? How
would displaced persons cast their votes or are
they automatically disenfranchised? How safe
would massive campaign rallies be? With
politicians and their militant cronies on both sides
facing up to one another ahead of the elections
and sounding the drumbeats of war should the
elections not go in their respective interests, what
would be the aftermath of a general election?”

Warning against putting up a false confidence
that elections have been successfully held in
some states under heavy military presence, he
said: “Let us not forget that we do not hold
staggered elections in Nigeria. We are talking
about general elections.

“If one were to ignore the atmosphere of
intimidation and the warlike environment that
such massive military deployment across the
nation at the same time would create, do we even
have sufficient security/military personnel for such
a mission? What would be the impact of such a
thin spread of our military on the safety of terror-
stricken areas? In whatever way the results of the
general elections go – North or South – are we
prepared for the reactions that could ensue?”

Highlighting some of the steps Nigeria needed to
do before delving into holding a general election,
the cleric said: “We need first to address the
underlying problems by joining forces to deal with
insurgency, seeking national reconciliation and
integration, forging a new people’s constitution,
developing a blueprint for development along
zonal lines, organising an accurate census and
establishing a truly independent electoral
commission whose head is not appointed by the
President and whose financial allocation will be
obtained from the first line charge of the
Federation Account.

“We must understand at this crucial stage in the
history of our nation that this is no time to
engage in the blame-game that has torn us apart
these past one hundred years: the blame-game
between the North and the South, the blame-
game between the Christians and the Muslims,
the blame-game among political parties and the
blame-game between the leadership and the
people.”