The Nigeria elections slated for February 2015 should be postponed to a time after Boko Haram and its activities would have been silenced forever. To avoid a constitution problem, a transition government made up of all political parties should be constituted to run the country from May 29. In the alternative, incumbent officeholders should continue.
We hold this view because it will be foolhardy for anyone to campaign in areas now under Boko Haram control. And we can’t hold elections in only two-thirds of the country and still claim they are Nigeria elections.
All those wasting stolen money on the 2015 polls should first read Section 64 (2) – repeated as Section 135 (3) – of the Nigerian constitution: it gives the president and the National Assembly powers to maintain the status quo for as long as any war lasts: “If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four years mentioned in subsection (1) of this section from time to time but not beyond a period of six months at any one time.”
Restoring peace to the country will be possible only when terror is defeated and victims like the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls are reunited with their parents. Some people may be using Boko haram as a bogeyman with which to corner public funds, as illustrated by a recent hoax concerning a truce in the Boko Haram war. Whatever is the case, those charged with maintaining peace and security in the nation should do their job or surrender power to the insurgents.
Nigerians cannot be in the right mood to listen to the fake promises of politicians or queue under the sun to vote in an election which results had been determined. They want peace before polls.
