A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations has called on Nigerians to be wary of grand designs by a clique of desperate politicians to destabilise the polity with inciting campaigns, pre-empting the likely verdicts of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal ( PEPT) and Gubernatorial Elections Tribunal particularly that of the nation’s economic nerve centre, Lagos State.
According to the Convener, Hameed Balogun and Secretary, Omotehinse Alex of Frontline Socio-Economic Research Centre, the Coalition is disturbed with the activities of various groups and individuals to conspiratorially heat up the polity with subtle insinuations of the possibilities of miscarriage of justice by Elections Tribunals entertaining the last Presidential and Governorship elections.
As both the Presidential and Lagos Gubernatorial Petition Tribunals have concluded hearings from parties and reserve the announcement of dates for declaration of their verdicts, the nation has been awashed with negative campaigns capable of provoking mass unrest in the country.
The Coalition pointed out to the egregious allegations that former Minister and Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, is drafting judgements for the various elections petitions tribunals while it equally noted the subtle blackmail of judiciary through an insidious mass, publicity campaigns of “All Eyes on the Judiciary” across the country.
The Coalition recalled the similitude of the major petitioners from the opposition parties – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Labour Party, LP – in elections petition tribunals. The main kernels of their cases challenged as well as tendered virtually the same grounds for disqualification and cancellation of the Presidential and Lagos Gubernatorial elections.
“The PDP and LP in the Presidential Elections Petitions sort; disqualification of Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the grounds of alleged dual citizenship, academic and criminal records while, Shettima is alleged to be quilty of double nominations.
“Similarly, Governor Babajide Sanwoolu is to be disqualified on he strength of an academic record on General Certificate of Education, GCE submitted in 2008, while Dr. Obafemi Hamzat is to be disqualified for swearing oath of allegiance as citizen of the United States of America,” the Coalition noted.
This, according to the Coalition is never accidental but a highly orchestrated plot to sow the seeds of confusion.
The group thereby, clarified that the plans of the major opposition parties ab initio, after losing out in the last general elections was to ferment crisis, protests and chaos.
“It took huge pressure to convince their archaic, anarchistic, anti-democratic mind sets that the correct paths to toe under constitutional democracy is to seek redress in the court of law. Lagos, as the commercial capital city of Nigeria has always been in envious compass of those against the country’s unity and progress, marked out for destabilisation. It behoves on the entire civil populace to massively prevent this plot,” the group noted.
The Coalition called on the media, the general public and the relevant security agencies to closely monitor the activities of these unpatriotic elements masquerading within opposition politics to unleash their malevolent agenda.
“The plot is thickening to draw the nation into another orgies of violence, brigandage, looting and wanton destructions using the #EndSars templates. Unwary Nigerians and the security personnels are advised to be informed and wary of the crafty machinations of these detractors of our budding attempts at democratic governance. All social subterfuges and political gimmicks to mobilise processions, rallies and protests on the verdicts of elections petitions tribunals would inevitably degenerate to a threat to public peace, safety of lives and properties.
“The trend becomes more worrisome with the military coming to state that it has received invitations to undertake a take over. This is not just grave but very sensitive and volatile. It is not just a threat to democratic governance. It is treasonable felony! It must be addressed with all the gravity .
“It may suffice to re emphasise that there are abundant peaceful and constitutional institutionalism for resolving all issues without resort to self-help. Needless to state that the Supreme Court will intervene on the verdicts of the Tribunals.
“More importantly, as people and country, we are facing serious security, socio economic challenges, peace and stability are minimum desideratum to come out of the duodenum. All hands must be on deck to protect our nascent democracy and salvage the country.
“Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty and democratic good governance,” the group stated.
