On Friday, the presidency explained why
it has issues with the dates scheduled by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the 2015 general
elections. The presidency is worried about fixing dates that
could “throw the country into turmoil and confusion.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who addressed the press in
Abuja said that the presidency will however not engage in subterfuge to
pressurise INEC to change the dates.
Okupe spoke on the outcome of yesterday’s Council of State meeting which held at the presidential villa.
He said that contrary to some media
reports, the chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, never insisted on
the February dates as quoted by some media reports.
But why does Aso Rock think the February dates should be revisited?
Okupe said that this was due to the
level of preparedness of the electoral body as well as the security
situation in some parts of the country.
Okupe told pressmen that even Jega
admitted that most of the processes involved in the election like
the provision, distribution and collection of PVCs, printing of ballot
papers, distribution of verification machines and other non –sensitive
materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc staff are all “work in
progress.”
The only thing ready, according to Okupe, is the the preparation and availability of the voters register.
He added that Jega himself admitted that
given a little more time, INEC would be in a better position to perfect
the processes and its readiness for the elections.
He said, “Also in his presentations to
the Council, the INEC Chairman, stated clearly that for the electoral
process to be free, fair, and credible, there are other matters which
were not under the control of INEC, principal among which is the issue
of provision and guarantee of security of lives and properties.
“The Security Chiefs were unanimous in
their advice to the Council that it will be impossible for now for them
to guarantee security of electoral materials, INEC Staff, and the voting
population in the areas currently engulfed by the war against
insurgency.”
Okupe said while some opinions were
proffered that elections could be allowed to hold on February 14 in 32
states not affected by insurgency, Jonathan made it clear that he would
not allow an election where some people will be excluded for no fault of
theirs.
He quoted the President as further
saying that endorsing such would tend to confirm the falsehood already
being propagated in some parts of the country that he was encouraging
the war in the North East to ensure that voters in the APC states were
not allowed to vote in the 2015 elections.
He added, “For the avoidance of doubt,
Nigerians are hereby re-assured that there has never been, and never
shall be any plan to cancel the 2015 elections, for any reasons
whatsoever. It will not happen, and the May 29th date for the
swearing-in is sacrosanct. All talks about interim government
arrangement is pure fiction.
“The consideration behind the
possibility of change of date is to allow those who may be disfranchised
from voting on the 14th February to have an opportunity to exercise
their lawful rights to vote and participate in the general elections.
“The new wave of successes being
recorded by the Military in the War against insurgency, especially with
the arrival of new effective combatant equipment and machinery, plus the
newly revamped cross border co-operation with Niger, Chad and
Cameroonian Military, offer a very genuine hope that in a very short
while, the situation in the affected states will be brought under such
reasonable control that will guarantee safety of the electoral process
and electorate in the war front region of the North–East at a no distant
future.
“We repeat that the only set of people
who stand to benefit from a shift in election dates are Nigerians who
desire to vote and have not been able to collect their Permanent Voters
Cards and other innocent citizens living in the war zone who may not be
able to vote on the 14th February.
“We also wish to recollect that in 2003,
2007, and 2011 the elections were held in April, and the hand over date
was not affected.
“We therefore challenge the opposition
to tell Nigerians in clear terms, what dangers the change of date from
February 14th portends to the electoral process or to the Nigerian
electorate. It will also be good if the opposition tells us who stands
to benefit or be disadvantaged from any shifting of date and how.”
Okupe, while saying that INEC was not
fully ready for the elections, dared the commission to direct its
Resident Electoral Commissioners to swear to an affidavit to prove their
readiness for the polls.
“It will be very re-assuring if the INEC
can get its RECs to attach their state of readiness to a sworn
affidavit and show it to Nigerians.
“The interest of this government is to
ensure that we do not have a rancorous and poorly conducted general
elections that will throw the country into turmoil and confusion with
the likelihood of an unnecessary internal and external rejection and
condemnation,” he said.
Okupe claimed that in Sokoto State, nine
local government areas are yet to receive PVC for the continuous voters
registration, barely nine days to the election.
He also claimed that the majority of the
960,000 ad hoc staff needed by the commission are yet to be recruited
and trained especially on the operations of card readers that are yet to
be made available.
He added that Lagos State is yet to receive a balance of about 12,000 card readers for elections.
At last, Aso Rock explains why it has issues with the elections holding this February
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Oleh
healthandwealth