A former presidential aspirant and lawmaker in the Fourth Republic, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, has cast doubt on ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the 2023 general election if the attack on its offices and police stations does not stop.
Durojaiye said though he was optimistic that elections would hold in 2023, he described
Speaking with newsmen in Ikeja on Thursday, the former senator said the burning of INEC offices and attack on police stations in some parts of Nigeria are signs that all was not well.
In his words: “I believe the 2023 election will hold because I am an optimist.
“If you have an adjustment within the next six months, we can conduct the 2023 election. But if nothing is done urgently to the attacks on INEC offices and police stations, I don’t see us having the (2023) election.
“It is disheartening; it is an ominous sign for INEC offices and police stations to be constantly attacked. This is a bad sign for the country. It is something that the authorities should really look at carefully.
“Let us seize this opportunity to jettison the 1999 Constitution crafted by the military in the borrowed gown of ‘We the people’ and revive a truly federal constitution which our political founding fathers painstakingly agreed to after a series of constitutional conferences in Nigeria and Britain (Lancaster House) between 1956 and 1960.”
He therefore, appealed to those seeking division of the country to shelve the idea.
Durujaiye said, “The country has a great advantage being together than being disintegrated. We have potential. I am of the opinion that Nigeria should be reconstituted into six Regions with the federating units exercising residual powers earlier indicated in this memorandum.”
