Medical, dental body condemns election postponement

• Group cautions against alleged plan to sack Jega

THE Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has described the rescheduling of the election dates as an insult on the collective intelligence of Nigeria.

    MDCAN in its reaction to the shift in polls also called for reorganization of the nations military, while also purging it of elements that could betray the nation’s defense operations.

     President of the Association, Dr. Steven Oluwole, in Abuja also described the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to shift the polls as “convoluted, contrived and bogus,” adding, “It is an insult to the collective intelligence of Nigerians.”

    The association noted that the security chiefs who advised INEC to postpone the elections are public servants who were aware of the elections for at least a year ago and wondered why security chiefs who had failed to contain Boko Haram insurgency in six years would now require six weeks to do so.

    Meanwhile, with rumours making round about plans to sack the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, a socio-political group, Defenders of Democracy Group (DDG) Tuesday said such decision would be the greatest disservice to the country’s democratic development since its over 50 years as an independent country.

     Director General of the organization, Ejoor Mukoro told journalists in Benin City Tuesday that the electoral body was blackmailed into agreeing to shift the election but vowed that those behind the plans would not succeed. He described the shift in election date as a coup against Nigerians.

    Oduwole continued, “Did Mr. President give orders to his security chiefs to prepare for the elections?  Were the orders of Mr. President ignored? If so the security chiefs have betrayed their duty to be subordinate to civil authority, defied and set the stage for potential truncation of democracy for security reasons!”

    He went on, “failure or reluctance of Mr. President to act speedily and decisively may put democratic governance in jeopardy and plunge this country into chaos that will fulfill the forecast of some foreign powers and Mr. President will lose the legitimacy to rule if he allows the fundamental principles of democracy to be violated and the will of the people that elected him derailed.”

    MDCAN praised its members in the North East, whom he said continue to provide services without adequate protection.

DDG said, “The Federal Government has failed to realise that President Goodluck Jonathan rode to power, on the sympathy of the people. Not because the people loved his party, but because people felt for him, saw in him, the face of hope… but today haven squandered his fortune and Nigeria’s good will, he is trying to force his party down the throat of everybody in the country. But Mr. President Jonathan must realize, that for Nigerians, it is not a party affair, it is not a matter of PDP or APC, but, the country seems to see in another the face of change, the face of hope, reconstruction and rejuvenation.

   “It is not a matter of certificate, or party, the Nigerian people feel betrayed by his broken promise on power, the Nigerian people feel betrayed by his dubious extortion of N100 for every litre of kerosene the poor manages to buy.  

“Nigeria has vowed to resist any subjugation of our collective will by this government. So, Jega or no Jega Nigeria’s will stand.”

   The statement also alleged that what is happening today was a connivance between the Presidency, PDP and service chiefs.