Incumbent Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is supposedly angry with Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the reason presented for the shift of the polls.
TheCable published an exclusive report on this, trying to understand why President wants to replace INEC chairman.
Attahiru Jega had announced the adjustment in dates from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 correspondingly to a letter written by the military over its “inability” to give security for the polls because of current operations against Boko Haram insurgency.
While speaking with journalists the representative of president said Jega was being “clever by half” and was trying to “pass the buck” in order to hide INEC’s poor arrangements for the polls.
READ ALSO: Presidency Sets To Replace Jega
The official, who wants to stay unnamed, said:
“Jega was not sincere at all. The collection of PVCs was to end last Saturday and 23 million cards were yet to be distributed. Why was Jega not man enough to admit they would have bungled the elections if the dates had remained unchanged?”
The source, who is a presidential assistant, said that the security issue was just one of the several factors that required the postponement in the dates “but Jega has cleverly gone to tell the whole world that it was the security agencies that forced him to change the dates.”
He continued: “Jega was also silent on the fact that the machines that would be deployed to read the cards had not been tested and its officials had not even been trained on how to use them, while there is yet no consolidated voter register. Jega himself admitted to his commissioners that the election would have ended in chaos if INEC had gone ahead. The letter written by the chief of defence staff was the perfect excuse for him to shift the polls and heap all the blame on security”.
President Jonathan had grown suspicious of Jega, the official continued, because of the “lopsidedness” in the organization of the PVC delivery exercise and the statements of the INEC chairman on Saturday are considered to have worsened matters.
TheCable published an exclusive report on this, trying to understand why President wants to replace INEC chairman.
Attahiru Jega had announced the adjustment in dates from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 correspondingly to a letter written by the military over its “inability” to give security for the polls because of current operations against Boko Haram insurgency.
While speaking with journalists the representative of president said Jega was being “clever by half” and was trying to “pass the buck” in order to hide INEC’s poor arrangements for the polls.
READ ALSO: Presidency Sets To Replace Jega
The official, who wants to stay unnamed, said:
The source, who is a presidential assistant, said that the security issue was just one of the several factors that required the postponement in the dates “but Jega has cleverly gone to tell the whole world that it was the security agencies that forced him to change the dates.”
He continued: “Jega was also silent on the fact that the machines that would be deployed to read the cards had not been tested and its officials had not even been trained on how to use them, while there is yet no consolidated voter register. Jega himself admitted to his commissioners that the election would have ended in chaos if INEC had gone ahead. The letter written by the chief of defence staff was the perfect excuse for him to shift the polls and heap all the blame on security”.
President Jonathan had grown suspicious of Jega, the official continued, because of the “lopsidedness” in the organization of the PVC delivery exercise and the statements of the INEC chairman on Saturday are considered to have worsened matters.
Meanwhile, Jega himself has said he has no reason to resign but would do so if he has to.
Section 132 (2) of the constitution allows for elections to be held up till April 30, and this had further fuelled fears that the country may be plunged into a crisis if Jega is asked to proceed on terminal leave.
The shift in the dates shocked Nigerian society. The main opposition party All Progressives Congress has immediately blamed presidency trying to stay longer.
While the ruling party said, it has no benefits from the postponement
Section 132 (2) of the constitution allows for elections to be held up till April 30, and this had further fuelled fears that the country may be plunged into a crisis if Jega is asked to proceed on terminal leave.
The shift in the dates shocked Nigerian society. The main opposition party All Progressives Congress has immediately blamed presidency trying to stay longer.
While the ruling party said, it has no benefits from the postponement
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