A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, on Wednesday warned that should the general elections be postponed again, Nigeria stands the risk of a constitutional crisis.
Speaking when he led a team of the Council of the Wise of Savannah Centre for Conflict Resolution, Democracy and Development to the Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu in Minna, Uwais said constitutionally, elections are suppose to hold 30 days before May 29, hence any shift now would affect the handing over day.
Nigeria’s former United Nations Permanent Representative, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, represented Uwais at the occasion.
He also stated that the postponement was a blessing in disguise as the Independent National Electoral Commission was not really prepared to conduct the election because many Nigerians had not gotten their Permanent Voter Cards.
According to him: “The postponement is a blessing in disguise.
“It will allow INEC to give more PVCs to people.
“Otherwise, a lot of people will be disenfranchised, especially in the North East areas.
“And the question is how will the displaced persons go back to cast their votes?”
The former Permanent Representative at the UN, who is also the National Coordinator of the Centre, further stated that other nations of the world are all looking up to Nigeria to conduct credible, free and fair elections.
He equally warned the military to remain neutral in the whole electoral process.
He said: “In the election, it is very clear that we need all the tools for peace and credible elections.
“Nigeria is the pace setter of Africa.
“The region is watching us and waiting to see whether we are going to get it right.”
Uwais then appealed to Aliyu, who is also the chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, to sensitize the region on the need to allow peace to reign before, during and after the elections.
Aliyu, in his response, said: “If elections had held in February as earlier fixed by the election umpire, it would have been a departure from what obtained before as elections were usually held in March and April.”
He added that currently, many are yet to collect their PVCs, including some state governors in the country.
Accordingly, he said: “The past elections in the country have been held between March and April.
“If the 2015 elections had held in February, it would been a departure from the past.
“If INEC had asserted that it was to conduct elections in February, the realities on ground did not support holding the elections at that period, because then PVCs that were being printed in China would have been delivered and INEC wouldn’t have had the opportunity of testing the Card Reader before elections.”
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