Conducting Census in 2018 may lead to chaos-Ozekhome

Fiery human Rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, has joined those campaigning for the postponement of the national census scheduled for 2018.

According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, conducting the census might lead to chaos in the country as it will be coming too close to the general election in 2019.

Ozekhome, who spoke to journalists in a “State of the Nation” address on Tuesday in his Abuja office, declared that the conduct of the next national census should be left to the next President.

“To the question of conducting a National Census in 2018, I want to state that historical revisionists, those who do not mean well for the country will use it as a stimulant to disorganise Nigeria, so that elections do not even hold in 2019. So I totally agree that whosoever emerges as the next President, one of the first tasks he should immediately embark upon is to quickly have a head count.

He wondered why there should be a rush to conduct a head count now. “If we have not done it for more than ten years, there is no reason to rush it between now and 2019, because I can assure you that serious politicking would have commenced, you know Nigeria is known for politicking and not governance. In the first two years, we have already finished governance and we start politicking again”.

It would be recalled that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had fired the first salvo last week when he declared that conducting a National Census in 2018 will be a call to chaos.

According to the Speaker, the timing is too close to the 2019 General Election.