JEGA'S INEC NOT QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT 2015 ELECTIONS

JEGA

The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday declared the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, unfit to conduct the 2015 general elections.

The opposition party stated this at the 2013 Annual Week of the Ogun State Chapter of the Freelance and Independent Broadcasters’ Association of Nigeria, held in Abeokuta. The acting National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lai Muhammed, who was a guest lecturer at the ceremony with the theme, ‘Nigeria, 53 years after: Problems, Possibilities and Prospects’, wondered how Mr. Jega, who could not ensure free and fair election in Anambra State, would conduct the 2015 polls.

In apparent reference to controversies that trailed the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State, which the electoral body had since declared inconclusive, Mr. Muhammed also described the Anambra poll as an election between the presidency and the APC.

“For us in APC, the matter is very clear. Anambra election is not about APC versus PDP or APGA; it is about APC versus the presidency. Otherwise, how do we explain that PDP, whose candidate was not allowed to vote in that election, will rush to the press and say that the election is free and fair?

“How do we justify it? In other words, from the beginning for PDP, it was not about winning. They know they could not win. It was about making sure that APC doesn’t win”.

INEC has since ordered a supplementary election in some polling units in Anambra on November 30; an election the APC has said it would not partake in, demanding for a total cancellation of the November 16 poll.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Tony Nwoye, have also threatened to boycott the supplementary polls citing widespread voter disenfranchisement and alleged irregularities.

Willy Obiano of the All Progressive Grand Alliance currently leads the others by over 70,000 votes according to the results released so far by INEC. “No amount of mobilization or registration you do will help you if the umpire remains INEC. If the treatment you are going to get is the one you got in Anambra.

“As of today, if INEC chairman can admit that somebody tried to compromise the register in Idemili North, then how are we sure any register anywhere is safe. If they can compromise election in Idemili North, so they can also do so in Ekiti or Ondo,” Mr. Mohammed said.

“Actually we should be more concerned about INEC than political parties. Political parties are like football teams, they want to win matches but it is for the referee to ensure that every team follows and obeys the rules. And this is why I think Nigeria has a problem because INEC as we have today, we do not believe has the integrity to conduct any further election in Nigeria”.

“This Anambra election is a very important election. It is not just about who is going to be governor of Anambra state, as a matter of fact, we are not really worried about who is going to win but we were very concerned about rule of law,” Mr. Muhammed added.

The spokesperson said his party’s desire was that every Nigerian, who is eligible to vote, must cast his vote “because Anambra election is a dry-run to Ekiti, Osun and 2015. So if we don’t get it right now, it portends trouble for Nigeria.”