There Can’t Be An Election In 2015” – Tunji Braithwaite

Veteran politician and social commentator, Dr Tunji Braithwaite, has reiterated that it is uncertain that the 2015 elections would hold. As far as Braithwaite is concerned, the Nigerian political atmosphere is too polluted by corruption, especially in high places, to allow an election to take place in the country. Braithwaite’s assertion was made known by the Nigerian Tribune after a chat with the septuagenarian (who turns 80 this year), following rumours about his death early on Sunday.

Dr Braithwaite said the scale of corruption and the abysmal official attitude towards tackling the menace posed a big threat to the 2015 elections. He bemoaned a situation where corruption had become a norm rather than exception in the land and challenged Nigerians to rise up to the occasion.

His comments have, no doubt, been influenced by the public criticisms trailing the granting of state pardon by the Federal Government to a former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alameisiegha and a former boss of the Bank of the North (BON), Alhaji Shettima Bulama, convicted of corruption: “There can’t be an election in 2015 in a corrupt system like this,” the 79-year old said.

He also reiterated the need for “a new constitution that truly contains and reflects the true and genuine aspiration of the peoples, so that Nigeria can occupy its rightful place in the comity of nations.”