Kukah warns Fed Govt against elections’ shift

Kukah

Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese Reverend Father Matthew Kukah has warned the Federal Government against postponing next month’s general election as being canvassed in certain quarters.

Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos was recently quoted to have called for the postponement of the general elections.

Kukah said yesterday that a postponement of the elections would result in destructive outcome for the country, adding that Nigerians were ready and prepared for the elections as never before.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria must do everything that is humanly possible to ensure that these elections do take place. Any contemplation of the postponement of this election is to seize the script written by the devil himself,” he said.

Kukah spoke in Abuja yesterday  at an election sensitisation workshop organised by the Nigerian Bar Association’s Committee on Voters’ Education and Mobilisation, with the theme: “ National workshop  on countdown to  the 2015 elections: Are Nigerians ready?”

In reaction to the question raised in the theme of the conference, as to whether Nigerians were ready for the elections, Kukah said: “Yes we are ready for this election, because if not now, when? And, if not us, who?”

Kukah and former President of the NBA, Joseph Daudu (SAN) expressed concern over the resort to violence by politicians.

Other speakers at the event, including the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke (SAN) and NBA President Augustine Alegeh (SAN), advocated for peaceful elections.

Kukah observed that the general anxiety over the elections stems from the fear about a possible recurrence of the 2011 post-election and the personalities of the two main presidential candidates, who are  ”themselves inherently sources of division, both on the basis of religion and region”.

He said the fear being exhibited in all quarters was a reflection of how developed the nation’s political process has become and should serve to propel the people to strive for a successful outing in the next elections.

The Catholic bishop noted that “our readiness for this election is based on whether we are prepared to assert ourselves and stand erect because in my view, our liberation is near at hand.”

Kukah argued that the greatest threat to the country’s democracy results from the composition of the political class itself.

He observed that the nation’s political space has been occupied by very many people with undemocratic antecedence – many of whom, he said, have continued to threaten the very foundation of the nation’s existence and democracy.

He also expressed discomfort over the growing resort to election tribunals as last resort for electoral dispute.

He argued that the reliance on the judiciary as the ultimate decider of the country’s political choice was unhealthy for the growth of a people-driven democracy.

He said though the security agencies were caught unaware by the post-election violence that greeted the 2011 elections, there is need for adequate preparation this time, to avert a recurrence of the 2011 episode.

Kukah urged INEC to be more vocal and seize the initiative to take full responsibility of laying down the rules of engagement to avert instances where political actors hand out directives that are often misinterpreted and engender conflict.