Braithwaite restates call for transition govt, APC cautions against polls shift

• ‘Confab didn’t discuss postponement of elections’

• NMA laments candidates’ silence on health sector

FOUNDER of the Nigerian Advance Party (NAP) and delegate to the National Conference, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, yesterday reiterated his call for transition government to be put in place, instead of the planned general elections scheduled to hold this month.

  Braithwaite spoke Wednesday as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and some civil society organisations cautioned against shifting the general elections. 

  Meanwhile, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) called on the various political parties to tackle the challenges facing the health sector in their manifestoes and electioneering outings. The association has, therefore, set a health agenda for politicians.

  Braithwaite faulted demand for postponement of the election and the cry over insufficient Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC). According to him, none of the reasons or observations made by proponents of the shift, although good as they sound, will resolve or correct the constitutional problems Nigeria is facing. “This is the root cause of the crisis Nigeria is going through and until we resolve it, there is no amount of election that will change the state of this nation.” 

 Speaking with The Guardian in Lagos, Braithwaite said empathetically that it is an illusion for anyone or political party to imagine that the 2015 elections will resolve our problems as a nation. “It will rather compound it and open other can of worms that we are most likely to nurse or romance for several years.

  “It is very dangerous for this nation to go ahead with the 2015 elections. I am talking as an elder statesman, who has experience of the history of this country. This is a warning all stakeholders at the helms of affairs, all politicians, traditional institution, those in the academic and corporate world as well as the over 40 million youths and human rights organisations must heed.” 

  According to Braithwaite, “The signs ahead of the elections are ominous, Nigeria is already divided along ethnic line, various socio- cultural and ethnic groups are pitching tents, militant groups are voicing venoms and there are counter-venoms. Allegations and accusations along ethnic divide are on the surge today just because of the elections. I think it is expedient we shelve the elections and set up a transition government, give ourselves time to resolve some of our fundamental problems and agree on terms of our agreement and co-existence before organizing election.”

 The eminent lawyer insisted that “Transition Government will do us more good than the 2015 election, which already is giving signs of chaos and violence. There is the need for us to step up a transition government that would enable us implement some recommendations of the national conference on constitutional issues.”

  President of the NMA, Dr. Kayode Obembe, told journalists in Abuja Wednesday that the association was getting increasingly disturbed by the deviation from the real issues.

  He said: “We are concerned about the health of Nigerian citizenry but worried that our leaders appear not to take it very seriously. The association calls on political parties to clearly articulate how to tackle these challenges confronting the health sector particularly the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage in their manifestoes, debates and other electioneering outings.”

  The association gave reasons Nigeria cannot achieve Universal Health Coverage and tackle challenges faced by the health sector. “Unfortunately, Nigeria cannot achieve full Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through taxation because of poverty, 60.9% live in abject poverty. Since Nigeria started the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2005, only about 7% of Nigeria population has been covered.”

“The reason for the stagnation is clearly due to the reluctance of state governors and local governments chairmen to embrace the scheme. This again is due to compulsory counterpart funding as prerequisite to accessing the funds.”

 “When politicians and their political parties describe themselves as grassroots-based, it leaves one to wonder then if the true meaning of the coinage is not on the premise of political razzmatazz.”

  He said that healthcare delivery challenges are not only finances or governance but also even distribution of health care services, security awareness and others. “By improving living conditions in the rural areas and guaranteeing security of the experts amongst other incentives, the rural areas could be more attractive to quality health manpower which will in no small measure impact positively on healthcare delivery in those settings.”

    On the diversification of the nation’s economy, Obembe described it as an emergency that should be treated with all seriousness. “We expect our leaders at all levels to start thinking very seriously of what to do in this case of worsening oil prices because the healthcare financing would be seriously affected. Ebola surveillance measures must continue with unmitigated intensity knowing too well how porous our borders are, and every other disease like Polio, Cholera, Meningitis, Measles, Lassa fever, HIV, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Bird flu among others should not be discountenanced.”

   Addressing a world press conference in Abuja, Odigie-Oyegun claimed that the APC was aware that the Presidency may attempt to drag members of the Council of State into its efforts to postpone the elections during the scheduled meeting of the council today.

   He noted: “Our party is encouraged by the fact that INEC has restated in clear and unambiguous terms its determination and ability to conduct the elections as planned. It is the constitutional prerogative of INEC to set election dates which nonetheless should meet at least the minimum threshold of confidence. We recognize that it had challenges but these are challenges that have been or are being seriously tackled by the commission, and the engineered clamour for postponement is not helping the situation.

  “Attempts to rubbish INEC’s preparations in order to achieve a postponement are being seen for what they are: a desperate ploy by the PDP administration to avoid certain electoral defeat. Unfortunately, in the process, the polity is being overheated to dangerous levels, with consequences that might be unpredictable at this stage.

  “Nigerians understand where the orchestrated attempts involving instigation of political parties and other groups, flimsy legal challenges and cynical manipulation of national elders and leaders are coming from.  These are part of the PDP script to deny Nigerians their right to choose their leaders on the 14th and 28th of February.

 “APC has faith in the distinguished members of the Council of State, and advises them not to become tools in the hand of an administration that wants to subvert our fragile democratic process. INEC should be allowed to perform its duties without overbearing interference from other institutions of State and the evil machinations of the PDP.”

  The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) National Chairman and retired Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie also said the defunct National Conference delegates did not endorse the postponement of the 2015 general elections.

Coomasie who spoke after a closed door meeting with Isekiri leaders from the South South in Kaduna yesterday, criticized those calling for the postponement of the elections, and dissociated all the Northern delegates from the call to postpone the 2015 polls.

 “It has been brought to the attention of the Northern delegates to the 2014 National Conference that the conference recommended the postponement of the scheduled 2015 general elections as being canvassed by some delegates in a recent statement.

“As a delegate and also chairman of the Northern Delegates Forum, I categorically state that the issue of postponing or shifting the 2015 general elections was never discussed

either at plenary or committee sessions throughout the duration of the conference.”