… Urge Buhari, ECOWAS, AU to stop country from sliding
…Calls for prosponment of presidential poll
Opposition parties in this year’s presidential election in Cote d’Ivoire have called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders within the West African region and Africa to save the country from sliding into another political crisis.
The parties warned that the third term ambition of President Alassane Ouattara if not stopped could plunge the country into political crisis.
Ivory Coast is scheduled to go to poll on 31st October 2020. Ouattara has done two terms of dive years as allowed by the country’s constitution. However, the Constitutional Council endorsed him for a third term on the ground that the new constitution adopted in 2016 does not take into account the previous two terms as it herald a new Republic.
But Mr. Seth Koko, presidential candidate of L’ Alternative -CI party who spoke for other candidates said that the participation of President Ouattara in the scheduled poll would only lead the country into another political chaos, as it is an attempt to perpetuate himself in office.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, Loko said the only way out now is for President Ouattara to handover to a transition government who would be appointed by stakeholders to conduct the presidential poll.
He said members of the opposition parties do not have confidence in the government to conduct free and fair election.
Besides, the opposition parties are calling for the prosponment of the scheduled presidential poll.
Koko also called for dissolution of the electoral body, saying that they do not have confidence in the body as currently constituted .
He therefore called on international community to save the country to avoid the 2010 bloody experience, which claimed no fewer than 3,000 lives.
He said already, members of opposition has called for mass protest against the resident’s participation in the presidential poll.
He said, ” In view of the many earning signs of a serious tragedy which seems inevitable in Cote d’Ivoire, and convinced that the current situation in Cote d’Ivoire constitutes serious threat international peace and security in the West African States (ECOWAS) to urgently implement its existing mechanism for conflict prevention and resolutions, in particular Protocol A/SP1/12/01 on Democracy and Good Governance, additional to the protocol relating to the mechanism for prevention, Management, Conflict Resolution, peacekeeping and Security.
“This situation is urgent and deserves the United Nations Security Council to include without delay on its agenda the serious electoral crisis which is already in place in Cote d’Ivoire, mainly due to the violation of the constitution by the incumbent President Alassane Dramane Ouattara who is a candidate for an unconstitutional third term.
“In this regard, by virtue of ‘re relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, in particular its Chapter 6 relating to the peaceful settlement of disputes and its Chapter 8 relating to regional agreements.
We hope to see the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS rapidly develop effective cooperation commensurate with the gravity of the situation in Cote d’Ivoire in order to prevent the escalation of violence and protect the lived of civilian populations.”
Koko further called for the release of political prisoners in the country.
He also called for the safe passage for the return of several Ivorian political figures, including former President Laurent Gbagbo, Prime Minister Guillaume Kigbafori Soro among others.
