Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says there
is no guarantee that Nigeria is prepared for the upcoming general election.
Falana spoke while appearing on Arise TV programme on
Tuesday.
Nigerians have been battling the scarcity of naira notes
fuelled by the federal government’s decision to redesign the N200, N500, and
N1000.
The hardship from the cash crunch, coupled with petrol
scarcity, has ignited nationwide protests in the last few weeks.
Concerns have been raised about how the situation may affect
the conduct of the presidential and governorship elections on February 25 and
March 11 respectively.
Speaking on the development, Falana said there is “no
indication” that people are ready for the elections.
The human rights lawyer said despite assurance by the armed
forces, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be the
agency guaranteeing Nigerians of the situation.
He said the issue of naira notes and petrol scarcity must be
addressed before the country can be truly ready 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.”
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