Falana Raises Alarm, Says Elections May Not Hold

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned that the March 28 and April 11 elections may be sabotaged by anti-democratic forces, which could lead the military to stage a coup d’état and set in place an interim government.
Falana stated this in a speech delivered at the Foursquare Gospel Church owned Life Theological Seminary, Ikorodu, on Sunday.

He also warned of the likelihood of post-election violence should the vote go forward.
Both President Jonathan and the Independent Electoral Commission chair, Attahiru Jega, have maintained that the new election dates are sacrosanct.
“There is no indication that the election will hold,” he said. “If the INEC goes ahead with the conduct of the elections there are fears that the exercise may be sabotaged by anti-democratic forces. If the election holds the results may be rejected leading to a post-election violence which may threaten the corporate existence of the nation. 
“In the circumstance, an interim government may be established and be saddled with the task of preparing the country for another political transition. In the alternative, a coup d’etat that may be staged by the top echelon of the armed forces under the pretext of restoring law and order and fighting the menace of insurgency. The military wing of the ruling parties succeeded in Mali and Burkina Faso. But having divided the country along ethnic and religious lines, the masterminds of the political crisis are not likely to profit from the perfidy.”
He therefore, asked Nigerians to prepare “for a long drawn out battle for the liberation of the country from political and economic predators”.
In his speech, the lawyer commended the renewed onslaught against the deadly terror group, Boko Haram, in the North-East region of Nigeria by both the federal government and the Nigerian military.
He, however, asked the military to discontinue the court martial of several solders who had earlier complained about lack of sophisticated weapons to face the insurgents.
He said the government’s admittance that it purchased new equipment for the fight to succeed, meant that the soldiers were justified in the earlier protest.

He also asked the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the Ambassador Usman Gilmatiri presidential panel on insurgency in the north east region and embark on a special program to address the problems of child education and youth unemployment in the region.
Meanwhile, Femi Fa­lana had mocked the claim by Yoruba socio-cultural group Afenifere, that it endorsed President Goodluck Jona­than for the forthcoming general elections, because he promised to implement the Yoruba agenda as recommended by the national conference.