No fewer than 20 Civil Society Organisations CSO in the country have vowed to mobilise Nigerians for mass protest over last week’s invasion of the National Assembly by security agents as well as alleged insensitivity of the Federal Government to the worsening state of security in the country.
The groups, who are coming together to protest under the aegis of Nigerians for Survival of Democracy, said at a briefing on Tuesday that they were concerned about recent political developments in the country.
National Coordinator of the NSD, Mr. Raji Rasheed, said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration had failed to convince Nigerians that it was capable of delivering good governance.
Rasheed said, “The level of insecurity and terror activities has reached an unprecedented level in the North-East of the country, after more than 18 months of state of emergency. There are compelling reasons to doubt the sincerity of this government since many times our soldiers on the battlefield have complained of lack of incentives.
“Nigerians should not be deluded that this administration is sincere in delivering a free and fair election in 2015.One only needs to look at the events of the last two years to understand the dangerous and unprecedented level of division, deceit, corruption, anarchy and lawlessness that was either perpetrated or unequivocally supported and promoted by this government. With recent events, we are more than convinced that a free and fair election in 2015 is almost impossible”.
Secretary of the NSD, Mr. Kazeem Adekanye, also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of irregularities in the way it handled the voter registration exercise across the country.
Adekanye said the NSD was worried by the fact that many Nigerians might be disenfranchised in 2015, owing to mistakes in the registration.
“The NSD would initiate a legal action against INEC if the issues are not addressed within 72 hours from today.
“We have also resolved to embark on a mass action across the country on December 4, 2014 to press home our demands”, he added.
