Jega Remove: Jonathan open the door to appoint a new INEC chairman
“Once Prof. Jega is removed, Mr. President will nominate a new chairman who will declare that INEC is not ready to use PVCs. And once PVCs are removed, it will become easier to carry out major rigging,” an INEC source said.
“Once Prof. Jega is removed, Mr. President will nominate a new chairman who will declare that INEC is not ready to use PVCs. And once PVCs are removed, it will become easier to carry out major rigging,” an INEC source said.
SaharaReporters
has learned that hawkish members of President Goodluck Jonathan’s inner
circle have convinced him to move in an aggressive and decisive manner
to remove Attahiru Jega as the chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) this week.
Sources within INEC as well as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
disclosed that, barring a last-minute change of heart, President
Jonathan will go ahead this week to force Mr. Jega to embark on a
terminal leave prior to the end of his year in the middle of 2015.
Our sources said the decision to remove Mr. Jega would open the door to
appoint a new chairman, a national commisoner of INEC, Amina Bala
Zakari, who would be open to jettisoning the use of permanent voters
cards and other anti-rigging technologies. “Once Prof. Jega is removed,
Mr. President will nominate a new chairman who will declare that INEC is
not ready to use PVCs. And once PVCs are removed, it will become easier
to carry out major rigging,” an INEC source said.
He added that the Presidency had been able to use its massive slush
funds, sourced from deals in the oil and energy sectors, to compromise a
majority of INEC officials in the states. Over the last four years,
Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has been stashing away funds
that President Jonathan is now using to bribe electoral officials,
traditional rulers, and even some members of the civil society groups.
One PDP insider told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan had distributed
more than $200 million to different groups since INEC postponed
elections two weeks ago.
Several sources said the removal of Mr. Jega is a major part of a
strategy developed by President Jonathan’s team to ensure that they win
the presidential and other elections by hook or crook. The presidential
election is now scheduled for March 28 while governorship and
legislative polls will hold on April 11.
Two weeks ago, facing a groundswell of opposition and in the face of
rising unpopularity, the PDP and Mr. Jonathan used a series of maneuvers
to compel INEC to postpone elections for six weeks. SaharaReporters had
detailed plans by Mr. Jonathan and his team to postpone elections in
order to slow the momentum of the All Progressives Congress and its
presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
The Presidency knew that the APC and its presidential candidate were
short on campaign funds, said our sources. In forcing the postponement,
Mr. Jonathan and his inner circle achieved a temporary crippling of the
main opposition party’s ability to continue to run political campaigns
and to sustain its electoral lead over the ruling party.
An APC top official told SaharaReporters that the party was truly short
of funds. “The president and his people have been putting aside public
funds for a long time. They are now sharing the money around the
country, but Nigerians are not fools. When the elections come, people
will remember that all that money was stolen from them,” he said.
Prior to the postponement, some PDP officials had confided in
SaharaReporters that their party and Mr. Jonathan were on the ropes and
faced certain defeat. But following the postponement, some of the same
officials now wax confidence, asserting that Mr. Jonathan and their
party would comfortably win the elections.
A PDP official told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jega’s removal was a done
deal. According to him, the hawks around Mr. Jonathan, including Ms.
Alison-Madueke, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Vice President Namadi Sambo,
and presidential aides Doyin Okupe and Femi Fani-Kayode, believe that
the PDP and Mr. Jonathan can weather the storm of any fallout from the
firing of the INEC chairman. “They believe the APC, the world press, the
US and EU will make noise, but then everybody will eventually calm
down,” said the source. He added that the same situation played out when
President Jonathan removed Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Governor of the
Central Bank.
Our sources said Mr. Jega’s refusal to be compromised in the conduct of
this year’s elections had spelt his doom. “Many RECs (resident electoral
commissioners) are in the party’s [PDP’s] pocket, but Professor Jega
has refused even to pick up the phone calls of those representing the
president. That’s why the decision has been reached to push him out of
the way,” one INEC source said. He added that Mr. Jega knew that the
eyes of the world were on him, and had decided to run elections that are
acknowledged as credible.
Our sources added that, before and after Mr. Jega’s removal, the PDP
plans to launch a major campaign to depict him as incompetent, corrupt,
and a servant of the APC. “His successor will come out and say that
INEC’s preparations for the elections are in a state of mess and that
further delay is needed to make proper preparations,” he added.
Jega Remove: Jonathan open the door to appoint a new INEC chairman
4/
5
Oleh
healthandwealth
