As a fallout of the recent deregistration of almost thirty political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), second Republic lawmaker and Chairman, National Advance Party (NAP), Tunji Braithwaite, in an interview granted to the Punch says if there is no sovereign national conference, there will be no election come 2015.
The NAP chairman described the move by INEC as “clearly unconstitutional”, saying it is a diversion. However, in a rather shocking affirmation, when asked what his plans are for the 2015 elections now that his party had been deregistered, the political stalwart said that there will be no elections, come 2015.
His words: “There will be no election in 2015. Go and write that down. There will be no elections in 2015 unless a sovereign national conference is convoked and a new constitution acceptable to the people of this country is agreed upon. Then if there are no elections in 2015, there is going to be an interim administration. We cannot continue in this rot; in this morass. Let the masses realise that deregistration of parties was intended to distract attentions from the real issues as to whether this country will remain as it is.
“The constitution we are operating now (1999 Constitution) has been adjudged as completely ineffective because it’s not a people’s constitution. We need to have a people’s constitution which will include dealing with corruption. We will also include decentralisation of power. That is the primary focus that we are concerned with and we will do our best. So, forget elections in 2015; that is putting the cart before the horse. We must convoke a national conference first and bring out a peoples’ constitution, not the whitewashing they are doing now in the so-called town hall meetings.”
Source: Punch
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