Coalition of Civil Society Organisations on Wednesday alleged plots to truncate Nigeria’s nascent democracy and warned the Federal Government not to contemplate postponement of the February 2015 general election.

A document signed by a coalition of 16 CSOs, including the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and read at a news conference in Abuja, on Wednesday, said they would mobilise Nigerians in a mass action to resist postponement of the elections if the surreptitious plot was executed.

The news conference was addressed by the national chairman of TMG, Mr Zikirullahi Ibrahim and Secretary-General of Women’s Rights Advancement & Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Mrs Saudatu Shehu Mahdi, arguing that the alleged attempt to shift the elections would spell doom for the country and plunge the nation into anarchy.

Other CSOs that signed the document were Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), West Africa Civil Society Forum (WACSOF-Nigeria), State of African Union, Partners for Electoral Reform, Protest to Power Movement, Centre for Democracy and Development, and Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC).

Others were Pan-African Strategic and Policy Research Centre (PANAFSRAC), Advocacy Nigeria, Say No Campaign, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) and the Gender Electoral and Constitutional Reform Network (GECORN).

Ibrahim, in his remarks said it would be treasonable for anyone to announce a shift in the elections Nigerians have been enthusiastically prepared to elect their next leaders.

He disclosed that part of the clandestine plan was to remove the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, “to pave the way for the appointment of a pliant, submissive and dependent stooge who will be more than willing to do the bidding of the powers that be.”

He added that another “elaborate plan by desperate elements within the polity is to use the judiciary to scuttle the polls.”

He said the CSOs were confident that Nigerians would not take these frontal assaults on democracy lying low, urging all well-meaning citizens, the young and old, the unemployed and the employed, the artisans as well as the intelligentsia to brace up to defend democracy.

He recalled that Nigerians had gone through this road before when a people’s struggle was launched that drove the military out of the political space, adding “we will not hesitate to launch a similar pro-people movement against the current emerging civilian tyranny. INEC’s independence must remain sacrosanct.”