Nigerian Lawyer, Festus Keyamo, says the ruling party is responsible for the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki’s suggestion that the February general elections be postponed.
Speaking on Channels Television, he said that it was cynical for a high ranking government official to make such suggestion when the elections were already close and the momentum was already in favour of the opposition candidate.
“The clear picture that is emerging is that the ruling party is afraid of defeat on February 14 and then the government uses its National Security Adviser to go and fly the kite first of all in London because they need to get the support of the international community for them to shift that date.
“Nobody can tell me really that a National Security Adviser would travel out of the country, make such a profound suggestion that can affect adversely the peace and tranquillity of even the electoral process without getting the approval of the President,” he said.
He alleged that the major reason the suggestion was made was to help the Peoples Democratic Party to buy more time to “do damage” to the chances of the APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
He noted that the Peoples Democratic Party had always been worried by the credibility of the retired General and this has been the reason there had been several attempts to demonise and challenge his eligibility for the office.
“They think that the momentum is behind him and they need more time to re-strategise on how to manipulate the processes and to damage his credibility,” he said.
He, however, expressed satisfaction in the statement made by the Chairman of the INEC, Attahiru Jega.
The INEC boss had said earlier in the week that the commission had no intention to postpone the elections and Keyamo said that this was heart-warming as it showed there was no synergy between INEC and the PDP.
He also corroborated the INEC Chairman’s claim that the commission was not to blame for the slow distribution of the PVCs as the people’s failure to collect their cards should not be a reason to postpone the elections.
Keyamo also said that the decision of the PDP not to react to the suggestion or condemn it just as the APC had done, validates his claim that they knew about it.
Buhari Certificate
Speaking on one of the issues which he said were being thrown at the APC candidate to discredit him, he said that making a case out of the educational qualification of the former Head of State was “complete rubbish”.
He referred to it as a “storm in a teacup” created to distract him and break the momentum being gathered by his popularity.
He noted that the Supreme Court had settled the matter in two different cases as he emphasized the view that the candidate only needed to be educated to the Primary 6 level and not necessarily to pass the examinations.
He added that an Army General who had attended many international courses, some of which have been rated to be equivalent to Masters Degrees, cannot be disqualified but rather seen as over qualified.
Insurgency
Keyamo, however, said that the failure of the current administration to address the critical issues of corruption, security and economy were of more importance to him than trying to help defend the authenticity of General Buhari’s academic credentials.
Keyamo expressed disgust at the growth of insurgency in the north-east region of the country. He said that the President should have been able to “deal with the situation” rather than provide reasons why the insurgency existed.
He insisted that the President should be blamed for the insurgency in Nigeria.
While admitting that terrorism was indeed a scourge in several developed countries, he noted that in no nation have the insurgents been able to take over any territory because their governments dealt with it decisively.
Mr Keyamo also provided his recommendations on how to get the 2015 general elections right.
He said that Nigerians need to shun violence and the President must make a commitment that the votes of the citizens would count.
He added that the President should not allow the rise of the “Mafias”.
