ABUJA – The Presidency, Tuesday, said there was no truth in the allegation by opposition parties that President Goodluck Jonathan has perfected plans to postpone the 2015 general elections.
Debunking the allegation in Abuja Tuesday, Senior Special Adviser to President Jonathan on public affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, described it as “idiotic”, insisting that the current administration has done so well to enable it win the impending presidential election without recourse to any form of deceit.
He berated opposition politicians over what he termed their “do-or-die and win at all cost” tendencies, saying they have been miffed by the fact that President Jonathan has performed creditably well despite enormous challenges that has bedevilled his administration.
Dr. Okupe
Okupe who spoke at the 2014 Nigerian Pilot/Newsworld Annual Public Lecture and Award, which held at Sheraton Hotels in Abuja Tuesday, queried why Jonathan should plot to postpone the election when he is sure of being re-elected next year on the basis of his “substantial performance”.
He further carpeted the All Progressives Congress, APC, for threatening to form a parallel government should it fail to unseat President Jonathan after the 2015 general election, saying “in very civil societies, people like that, whatever political tendencies they represent should totally be wiped off from peoples memories as bad
teachers”.
Okupe who maintained that he would never subscribe to the idea of election rigging, regretted that the governorship candidate of the APC in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, earlier took to twitter to allege that President Jonathan was using the prolonged insurgency in the North-East to deceitfully extend his tenure beyond 2015.
Specifically, El-Rufai had alleged that Jonathan’s administration was creating a war situation in the region to enable him to invoke section 216 of the constitution that allows the cancellation of elections in war zones.
More so, the APC, had in a statement it issued on September 21, warned those nursing plans to postpone the 2015 general elections to perish the thought, saying Nigerians will not accept, under any guise whatsoever, any scheme by desperate elected officials to get tenure elongation by subterfuge.
The party, in the said statement which was signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, maintained that those who are flying the kite of pushing forward the election ostensibly because the nation is at war are trying to imperil the nation’s democracy.
According to the APC, “the statement credited to the Senate President, David Mark, that “There is no question of elections; it is not even on the table now. We are in a state of war”, reflects the thinking in government circles, even though the Senate President, having run into a wall of opposition over his unfortunate statement, has tried to step back from the comments”.
It said: “We in the APC saw this coming, and we have said it at several fora: That the Jonathan Administration has deliberately allowed the insurgency in the North-east, an opposition stronghold, to fester so he can cash in on it to get re-elected. Simply put, the Administration has been playing dirty politics with Boko Haram, at the expense of the lives and property of the citizenry and the well-being of the nation.
“However, the Administration is being too clever by half to think that Nigerians will reward it for its failure in its main reason for existence, which is the protection of the welfare and security of the citizens. There is just no way this government will be allowed to profit from its ineptness and its conspiracy to prolong an insurgency that should have ended a long time ago.”
Nevertheless, reacting to the allegation yesterday, advised the APC to go out and canvass for votes rather than dissipate its energy fighting President Jonathan who he said was not desperate to hold onto power at all cost.
He said: “I have followed politics for over 30 years; I have never ever been impressed by the Nigerian political elites, never. It’s a personal and self indictment but that is the truth. The struggle for power blind folds them and it is not a national struggle, it is a
personal struggle and we are ready to do anything and everything. It is not just the style. I was in NRC; I was in Geneva Convention, anytime we need to fight for a purpose, it is always do or die me or nobody. And that is why we have not made progress. I am part of and will not exclude myself.
“I feel like-this are my thoughts-political parties should offer alternative platforms for people to consider, I come-this is what I will do for the country, this is my background, you come you say your own then allow people to choose.
“When people choose that is the end of it. All politics should end the day you cast you ballots. I contested virtually all the elections, I have won very few, but I have never ever rigged an election for myself or for anybody. I have never done it.
“The Nigerian political class must- well I don’t want to say things that are rhetorical because it doesn’t make sense, but I want to say must learn great lessons but it is too late. Maybe the younger generation may have different perspectives. We have not undergone the election itself and people are saying that we will form a parallel government for an election you have not lost.
“We will form parallel government! Parallel to what? Supposing you win? When you have not undergone an election and you assumed that you are going to lose, and that if and when you lose you will form parallel government. In very civil societies, people like that, whatever political tendencies they represent should totally be wiped off from peoples memories as bad teachers.
“Those are not people that will mean well for the country. If you are a politician, canvass for votes, say all the good things you know about yourself and your candidates and let the people decide. I have also heard- it is not even a matter of hearing it, yesterday on twitter, another politician said that the president, Goodluck Jonathan, is fanning the war (against Boko Haram), so that the election can be postponed. That was quite idiotic.
“A man that is waiting to be crowned forgets that is the Otunba that is speaking….this is Africa, this is Nigeria, this is a president that has run and that has held the office for four years, to the glory of God he has been able to make some substantial performance, unarguably.
Every indication points out to the lengthy road of his winning, so why will he want to stop the election that his likely opponent has no record of winning anything?
“ It is unfortunate that they are on drugs …if Nigeria were to be a private estate owned by some of us, with Goodluck Jonathan as the Managing Director and Chief Executive of that estate, will anybody change him for a Buhari?
“It is not likely, but because Nigeria doesn’t belong to anybody and the elites are not stakeholders, that is why people will want to use people just to get power, whether it is for good or for bad they really don’t care.
“So when people do things like this, it make issues and challenges that will come in 2015 very very frightful. As a matter of fact, the greatest problem we will have in post 2015 will be the acceptance of defeat by losers.
“I want to tell you for sure, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is not desperate, even till this morning, I had breakfast with him, and he is not desperate for power. If at this stage you ask why then is he running? He is running on the basis of principle.
“He is a good Christian and a responsible man. The Bible says no man having put his hand on the plough and turneth back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
“That is why we are running. We have done so well, we have been encouraged by so many people. We have got the best stars in the firmament. They tell you things, they say that the president is clueless, that is a joke.
“Let’s just assume for a minute that the president is clueless, is Okonjo Iweala clueless? Can you say the Minister of trade and investment Olusegun Aganga is clueless also? The Director of Budget of this country is a Harvard graduate.
“These are jokers! My chairman Sir, I was not meant to speak her sir and I do not intend to speak for long. I want to thank the publisher and your team. I want to say here that you are very supportive of the government but you are also very critical of the government. Ladies and gentlemen I rest my case”.
Meantime, the guest speaker at the event and former Governor of Edo State, Professor Oserhiemen A. Osunbor, in his lecture entitled ‘Nigeria After 2015: Issues and Challenges’, noted that preparatory to the general elections, the country’s political landscape is getting increasingly charged with various political moves and schemings.
“Within the major political parties there is growing internal dissension as one faction or groups strive to out-manoeuvre the other to the consternation of observers, local and foreign”.
He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as party of its constitutional functions of voter education, carry out massive public/civic enlightenment as to the benefits of electronic voting which he said will help reduce or eliminate election rigging and ensure faster collation and release of election results.
Osunbor who is currently the Chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, further noted that corruption is one of the most debilitating problems confronting Nigeria today, saying its damaging effects pervades virtually all facets of our national life, causes distortions in the political system and inhibits developments and progress.
“Another issue that may pose serious challenge to us as nation is where courts or election petition tribunals, after invalidating and nullifying a substantial number of votes scored by a winner, declare the loser at the polls winner in the court of law. I shudder to think, however, what would happen if a court invalidates votes scored at a Presidential election by a leading candidate (or party) who has already been sworn into office and proceeds to declare as winner a candidate (or party) who scored lesser votes at the polls.
“Elsewhere election results are supposed to be a reflection of the will of the voters but often in Nigeria the voters are completely disregarded and their will rendered irrelevant”, Osunbor added.
Among those that received awards yesterday included Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Theodore Orji of Abia State, Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen, that of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, among others.
