Braithwaite Proposes an Interim Govt Instead of Elections in 2015

Braithwaite Proposes an Interim Govt Instead of Elections in 2015

A prominent lawyer and founder of the defunct Nigeria Advance Party, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, has demanded the convocation of an interim government in Nigeria to resolve what he described as critical foundational issues prior to any elections in 2015.

Braithwaite, in a statement on Friday said: “Those who are preparing for elections 2015 seem oblivious to the glaring truth that the circumstances of this nation-state dictate that the twin foundational issues of constitutional reconstruction of the nation-state and insurgency must first of all be resolved satisfactorily before
any election to realise their own selfish appetite.”

The former presidential aspirant said, “In default, there will be an interim government in Nigeria to resolve these critical foundational issues. Anything short of this would surely be catastrophic. Let us do everything to avert this.”

The sovereign power of the people of Nigeria, he said, “overrides the unwieldy purloined power, long exercised by an infinitesimal but highly corrupt and recycled military/political cartel of a discernible neo-colonial culture and mindset.”

The people, according to him, “Are now set to retrieve the soul of our patrimony and thereby realise the great and abundant potentials of our diverse nationalities.”

He said the projected elections of 2015 should be shelved because they “are purposed by the same backward, but highly corrupt military/political cartel to continue the rapacious and merciless exploitation of the masses.

“The evidence of this, is clear in the fact that the preparations are being undertaken by the uncredible electoral Commission (INEC) under the discredited anti-people, military Constitution Decree 24 of 1999. Incredible!

“A ‘Constitution’ that clothes bare-faced criminals in public-offices with immunity.

A Constitution that denies the peoples of Nigeria their natural right of fiscal federalism and autonomy, and makes every Governor of each state, a Caesarean Emperor over the people, totally unaccountable – with lame-duck or accomplice houses of Assemblies.”

He said meanwhile, “the centre is made overbearing, making nonsense of the freedoms, inherent in and the bedrock – of Federalism or even confederalism.”

Braithwaite said a Constitution, which by any modern criteria, is a prescription for underdevelopment and chaos, adding that “a constitution that promotes the emasculation of basic institutions of democracy, like the judiciary and free and fair elections.

“The Electoral Commission, INEC is a tool in the hand of the executive, both at the Federal and State levels. The present systemic but disgraceful attempt by INEC to foist a two-party or even one party system on Nigerians, is a clear testimony of the subservience of that body to their paymaster.”

He questioned the freedom of the judiciary free, saying “The public knows the answer to this question, particularly when it comes to election issues.

“The last straw that has broken the camels’ back in all of the wild projected elections 2015, is the widespread insecurity and bloodshed in the land, especially in parts of the North of the nation”, he said.