The Plot To Scuttle 2015 Polls

Barely two weeks after the sudden postponement of the 2015 general elections from February to March and April, there has been a plethora of reports that a sinister plot is being hatched to scuttle the entire elections. At the forefront of this plot is the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its cohorts. Sensing that it may be roundly trounced at the polls, the PDP is employing all kinds of barefaced lies and gimmicks to obfuscate the electorate and scuttle the entire process.

One of the plot is to compel Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to proceed on terminal leave ahead of the end of his tenure in June. PDP  has equally been engaging in proxy battles against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari by sponsoring court cases over Buhari’s educational qualification to contest for the position of president. Now we hear that 23 mushroom political parties that exist only in the portfolios their leaders carry about are agitating that the elections should be postponed.

There is not smoke without fire. That is why this plot to shift the polls again cannot be taken lightly. Clearly, those who are seeking this devil’s alternative do not wish our country well. They are blinded by their greed and only interested in the filthy lucre they are benefitting from their sponsors without giving a damn about the fate that will befall this nation if democracy is scuttled.

We doubt if those asking for the postponement of the election for whatever reason are aware that they are inadvertently beating the drums of war. We wonder if they are aware of the enormous price Nigerians paid to enthrone the democratic governance they are bent on truncating. Do they know that a lot of Nigerians were killed and activists and journalists were jailed while fighting to ensure that democracy is enthroned in this country?

We are worried that those who should know better have joined the people beating the drums of war. Even the church has been co-opted into this dangerous game. Those openly orchestrating this sinister plot and their pay masters pulling the strings behind the scene need to retrace their steps before it is too late. Nigerians will not accept any further attempt to postpone the elections under any guise.

From its body language and the utterances of its leaders, PDP is mortally afraid of going for the elections. That is why the party has accused Jega of plotting to rig the polls in favour of APC. How it came to that conclusion is difficult to fathom. Since it claims to be the largest political party in Africa and would rule Nigeria for several decades, why is it afraid of participating in the elections? The party should be bold enough to go to the polls. We are convinced that INEC has created a level playing field for all the political parties to participate in the elections.

Any party, like the PDP, that is crying wolf where there is none, is clearly chasing shadows. The plot to scuttle the general elections will fail because the majority of Nigerians and the international community won’t allow the country to be plunged into chaos.