Ace Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, has kicked against the calls for the resignation of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Atahiru Jega.
The legal practitioner, who spoke to newsmen during the Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) rally held at Ojota, Lagos on Saturday, noted that the INEC boss could not go on leave because he was not a civil servant.
According to Falana, “Jega has a five year tenure which is renewable under section 155 of the constitution. There is no provision for sabbatical or terminal leave. Jega is not a civil servant to be ordered by the head of service to proceed on leave and in any case, you can’t go on leave when the basic duty for which the constitution has appointed you is been performed so there is no room for resignation or sabbatical leave,” Mr. Falana said.
On the forthcoming general elections, the lawyer said the exercise cannot be shifted again because it would be unconstitutional to hold election less than 30 days to handing over date.
Falana, a senior advocate said the civil society was not ready to allow the electoral powerhouse shift the polls again.
The rally took the activists from Maryland Roundabout to Ojota.
The protesters were seen displaying placards bearing different inscriptions as : ‘Remember June 12′ ;’Don’t politicise INEC’; ‘On March 28, 2015 we stand’; ‘No more excuses’; ‘No interim government’; ‘Bring back our girls’; ‘Jega is not your employee;’ and ‘No to military rule again in Nigeria’.
Of the rally, he said: “We are here on the platform of an organisation called, Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) to demand for the elections because there are indications that the elections may be cancelled.
“We want to pressurise the Jonathan administration not to frustrate the INEC from conducting the general elections. We do not want any further postponement. We want the government to respect and recognise the democratic right of the Nigerian people to vote for candidates of their choice.
“We are here to sound a note of warning that we are going to mobilise the whole country if they insist on any further postponement of the elections.”
“The challenge of today is your challenge, it is ours; it is our collective responsibility to respond,” he said.
“No government since 1960 has ever defeated the Nigerian people; all the governments that attempted to truncate the democratic process were chased out of power. Even military dictators could not frustrate the democratic process. So once we mobilise Nigerians to demand for democracy, no force can defeat them.”
Falana also asked the military to steer clear of politics as it was not their business to determine when elections should be conducted.
“Just like other Nigerians, they have the fundamental right to vote for the candidates of their choice but they have no right to tell INEC when to hold elections and when not to hold elections,” he stated.
“Elections were held in Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya. What will be the excuse for not holding elections in Nigeria. In Yobe State, local government elections were held in 2013 and there was no incident. The president was in Maiduguri to campaign, Buhari too, and there were no incidents. So why should they stop elections because of insurgency?”
“Constitutionally, elections cannot be further postponed; if the government does it, it will be asking for anarchy and there is no provision for it in the constitution. The president has repeatedly assured Nigerians that there is no room for interim national government.
“We have also been told that there will be no coup, therefore, we have to operate within the ambit of the law and that is why you cannot go beyond April 11 to conduct election because under the constitution, election must be held not later than 30 days to the handing over date. That means all the elections must be completed before April 29,” he said.
Falana said the rally was not staged to support any political party but to warn the government not to tamper with the new election dates.
“The government has said those dates are sacrosanct, but we are only here to warn them that if there is any attempt to thinker with those dates, we would mobilise Nigerians to throw out all the antics of anti-democratic system”, he added.
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