Falana Warns Of Military Coup, Says Elections May Not Hold

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned that
the March 28 and April 11 elections may be sabotaged by
anti-democratic forces, which could lead the military to stage
a coup d’etat and set in place an interim government.

Mr. Falana, who stated this in a speech delivered at the
Foursquare Gospel Church owned Life Theological Seminary,
Ikorodu, on Sunday, said despite assurances by President
Goodluck Jonathan and the Independent National Electoral
Commission, there was no indication that the election will hold
as billed.
He also warned of the likelihood of post-election violence
should the vote go forward.
Both President Jonathan and the Independent Electoral
Commission chair, Attahiru Jega, have maintained that the new
election dates are sacrosanct.
“There is no indication that the election will hold,” he said. “If
the INEC goes ahead with the conduct of the elections there are
fears that the exercise may be sabotaged by anti-democratic
forces. If the election holds the results may be rejected leading
to a post-election violence which may threaten the corporate
existence of the nation.
“In the circumstance, an interim government may be established
and be saddled with the task of preparing the country for
another political transition. In the alternative, a coup d’etat that
may be staged by the top echelon of the armed forces under the
pretext of restoring law and order and fighting the menace of
insurgency. The military wing of the ruling parties succeeded in
Mali and Burkina Faso. But having divided the country along
ethnic and religious lines, the masterminds of the political
crisis are not likely to profit from the perfidy.”
He therefore, asked Nigerians to prepare “for a long drawn out
battle for the liberation of the country from political and
economic predators”.
In his speech, the lawyer commended the renewed onslaught
against the deadly terror group, Boko Haram, in the North-East
region of Nigeria by both the federal government and the
Nigerian military.
He, however, asked the military to discontinue the court martial
of several solders who had earlier complained about lack of
sophisticated weapons to face the insurgents.
He said the government’s admittance that it purchased new
equipment for the fight to succeed, meant that the soldiers were
justified in the earlier protest.
He also asked the Federal Government to implement the
recommendations of the Ambassador Usman Gilmatiri
presidential panel on insurgency in the north east region and
embark on a special programme to address the problems of
child education and youth unemployment in the region.
On the state of the nation’s economy, Mr. Falana said the bulk
of the intervention funds created by the Goodluck Jonathan-led
administration was for the rich.
According to Mr. Falana, the funds including- Agricultural
Credit Guarantee Scheme (N69billion); Commercial Agricultural
Credit Guarantee Scheme (N200billion); the Nigerian Incentive-
Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending
(N200billion); Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee
Scheme (N200billion); the SMEs Restructuring and Refinancing
Scheme (N200billion) and Power and Airlines Intervention Fund
(N300billion) are yet to have effect on the economy.
“Sequel to the crash in the price of crude oil the Federal
Government announced that austerity measures would be
imposed on the hapless Nigerian people,” he said. “Because of
the gross mismanagement of the economy by the government
and its allies workers are now salaries for months. After the
elections the people are going to be made to bear the brunt of
the looting of the treasury and costs of running the
government.
“But in spite of the grinding poverty in the land Nigerian
legislators are said to be the highest paid in the world. The
country’s public officers equally receive the highest estacodes
in the world. With over 10 aircraft Nigeria has the largest
presidential fleet among the developing nations in the world.”
The lawyer also accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of
“dollarization of the economy”.
“In a bid to dollarize the economy and destroys the Nigerian
economy the CBN supplies millions of dollars to the foreign
exchange market on a weekly basis,” he said. “Although Nigeria
has become the largest importer of the United States dollars in
the world neither the International Monetary Fund (IMF) nor the
World Bank has ever questioned the reckless devaluation of the
economy. Even, the National Assembly which is debating the
2015 Appropriation Bill has not deemed it to consider the
deleterious effects of the increasing devaluation of the national
currency on the implementation of the Budget.”
The media was also not left out as Mr. Falana accused the
media of diverting attention from Nigeria’s problem of youth
unemployment, infrastructural decay, insecurity, corruption,
currency devaluation to giving undue prominence to the
campaign of calumny and character assassination embarked
upon by some politicians.
“The media have thrown caution to the winds by colluding with
certain politicians to divert attention from the crises of youth
unemployment, infrastructural decay, insecurity, corruption,
currency devaluation etc,” he said. “Thus, by giving undue
prominence to the campaign of calumny and character
assassination embarked upon by some politicians the media
have denied the Nigerian people the opportunity to make
informed decisions on the candidates of their choice.