Falana: It Is Not Clear Yet If Elections Will Hold

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Tuesday, February 21st, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has stated that it is not certain that Nigeria is prepared for the upcoming general election.

Falana said this when he appeared on Arise TV programme on Tuesday.

The African Examiner writes that Nigerians have been struggling with the scarcity of naira notes which was as a result of the federal government’s decision to redesign the N200, N500, and N1000 notes.

This development coupled with fuel scarcity had caused immense hardship and this has resulted to a nationwide protests in the past weeks.

Concerns have now been raised about how the situation may disturbed the conduct of the forthcoming elections.

Speaking concerning the development, Falana stated that there is “no indication” that people are prepared for the elections.

According to him, irrespective of assurances by the armed forces, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Nigerians are still not ready as the issue of naira notes and petrol scarcity must be looked into before the country can be truly prepared for the elections.

“By now, Nigerians should be fully prepared for the election. But unfortunately, there is no indication, and people are still saying will the election hold or not,” Falana said.

“The chief of defence staff has no business with respect to our election. We are under a democratic system of government, and it should be the IGP that should be speaking about security. Because, it is the police, under the law, that will man the polling units. The armed forces are only asked to stand by.

“Let us all appreciate that we are operating a civilian dispensation and the military must go back to their barracks. The person that should be doing the talking is the INEC chair, who has said the commission needs cash to take care of some logistics.

“But has the money been released? No. Even the armed forces and the NSA spoke about the effect of cash scarcity on counter-insurgency campaigns. Those areas have to be addressed. And for the masses, it is only when you have access to your money that you can be happy and ready for the election. We must be ready and all these will have to be taken seriously.”