— Balarabe Musa Says conditions for credible polls in
2015 don’t exist
Accuses FG of conspiracy in abduction
of Chibok girls Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor
of Kaduna State, in this interview, fears
that the 2015 polls would not be free
and fair because the conditions for
credible election are not in place. He
also justifies northern leaders’ gang- up against President Goodluck
Jonathan so long as it is legal. He
accuses the Federal Government of
conspiracy and cover-up in the
abduction of the 219 Chibok
schoolgirls and urges the set up of a commission of inquiry on Dr Steven
Davis’ comments on sponsors of Boko
Haram. Excerpts: By Dapo Akinrefon
It has been 147 days that the Chibok
school girls were abducted and all
attempts to rescue them have been
futile. Some say there is a conspiracy
somewhere. Do you think so? I think their abduction is very
suspicious because we have to face
the reality. We are dealing with politics
particularly the 2015 elections, which
encourages the incumbent to
destabilise the country so that elections will not hold in 2015, in
which case the provisions of the
constitution will prevail. It means that
the president will continue. If the election is conducted for
whatever reasons, it is rigged because
of the insecurity in the country. The
abduction of the girls is part and
parcel of the Boko Haram and so, this
is a serious issue because such thing cannot happen without the
government getting serious
information on the matter. *Balarabe Musa Everything is mysterious and nobody
knows anything about the abducted
girls. The government has not come
out with any reliable information
about the whereabouts of the girls.
There were some information a few months ago that international
organizations have been involved in
the identification of the whereabouts
of the girls. It is unfortunate that in spite of the
involvement of the international
security agencies, the girls are still
missing. Nothing is convincing and if
there is no government conspiracy,
how can this happen? There is no information and action on the part of
the government. There is also another aspect of it, there
were reports that 57 of the girls had
escaped and then, we now hear a lot
of talks about these escaped girls. We
don’t know where they are being
kept, we hear also that they are being offered scholarship abroad. How sure
are we that these are the girls being
talked about? You see, everything is
mysterious. How do you see the allegations of
Australian terrorism negotiator, Dr
Steven Davis, that former Chief of Army
Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika
and former Borno State Governor, Ali
Modu Sheriff are sponsors of Boko Haram?
It is not impossible because it means
there is a conspiracy for political
reasons in the action. Therefore, these
allegations should be looked into. Do you think the president has the
political will to go after these alleged
Boko Haram sponsors?
He may not even have the moral will
because the government itself has
been accused of conspiring with an interest to do this and to cover it up.
There should be a judicial commission
of inquiry over this because the
political allegations are becoming very
serious. The Boko Haram insurgents have
taken over some communities and
towns in Boko State and also hoisted
their flags there, what signal does this
send?
First of all, it shows that the issue we are facing is not just insecurity but an
attempt on the sovereignty of Nigeria.
This is serious. How can the activities of these
insurgents be nipped in the bud
because it is taking a dangerous
dimension?
The only way we can do it peacefully
because the government has lost moral credibility on this is to have free,
fair and transparent elections in this
country.
For this to happen, we need to rely on
the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, but unfortunately, INEC is also part of the problem. And so, the only thing we can do
peacefully is to ask the National
Assembly to do something about it
and really ensure that there is free, fair
and transparent elections leading to a
legitimate government. If we can have a legitimate government by any
means, we can successfully address
this issue. The Northern Elders Forum has given
President Jonathan an ultimatum to
bring back the abducted Chibok girls
or forfeit 2015. What is your take?
This is nonsense because you cannot
identify who these Northern elders are. You cannot identify their
relevance because anybody can call
himself an elder.
Those who can be referred to as
elders can only be elected
representatives of the people. In that case, they can be members of the
National Assembly from the North or
State Houses of Assembly and local
government councils. These are the
elders. These are the ones who can
legitimately represent the people. Let us forget about these sectional elders. Is it true that there is a gang up by
Northern leaders and elders against
President Goodluck Jonathan?
It is legitimate and democratic politics.
If you gang up against your opponent
what is wrong with it as long as you are doing it legally? Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal
Alex Badeh and President Jonathan Ahead of the 2015 elections, a group
has been going round the six geo-
political zones of the country to hold
rallies for President Jonathan. What is
your take on this considering the
mood of the nation? I hold the president responsible for
this act of gross misconduct and it is
an impeachable offence because he is
undermining the law.
Nobody can absolve the president of
this because he cannot say he doesn’t know about it. He cannot deny
authorizing it because these
campaigns are being funded with the
approval of the president. Here, Mr
President is been charged with gross
misconduct and an impeachable offence. What are your fears for 2015?
It is not possible for us to get over
these national crises on or before
2015. It is also not possible for us to
conduct free, fair and transparent
elections in 2015 because the conditions for it do not exist and there
are attempts to bring them about. So, it is either we do not have 2015
elections at all or the elections will be
rigged.
I want to call your attention to what
happened some days ago over a
report by the media. The president was saying that the government will
print the ballot papers for INEC.
Now this shows clearly that INEC is not
independent and the president wants
to use INEC to rig the elections. If INEC is an independent electoral
agency, how can the government
print ballot papers for them in an
election where the president is
contesting? You can now see that the
2015 elections is a myth because INEC is not independent.
This goes to show that even if the
2015 election holds, it is going to be
rigged and it will not bring about a
legitimate government.
www.vanguardngr.com

Baba, u are right.

in dat case let Gej b sworn in for anoda 4 yrs since u cannot shout or bully him into changing d plan for inec to print in nigeria. Ohhh? How I want gej to lead till 2023 at least.

Now it's becoming very clear to some pips that Jonathan is gonna win d 2015 election, pretenders are beginning to offer untenable excuses. They should know that this is the best and most favourable scenario for them ( since they can't defeat gej ). Any attempt to prevent the elections from holding is to play to the hands of proponents of regionalism - whose ideologies I truly subscribe to by the way, and trust me then will they wished they had allowed Gej to go unopposed.

I repeat should the elections not hold some regions are gonna loss BIG

Grand pa Balarabe! Please go and rest. You have tried to remain relevant but it aint working.

We don't want little children to begin to insult old age and the aged...pls go and rest.

Watch the happenings on Tv or read them on newspaper. Shey u remember how those #bringbackourgirls ppl, almost sent u to the hospital during their rally in kd?
We don't want such again o...

#stopTalking......

Old one please go and rest,u are nw politically irrelevant. No party will absorb u again cos u are a failure even labour party kaduna will reject u

Great comment Alhaji Balarabe
Jona ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wants to usurp the job of INEC since 2014