INEC deploys ballot papers, boxes

The green light is on for the March 28 and April 11 elections.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega yesterday told leaders of political parties that all sensitive and non-sensitive materials, especially ballot papers and boxes, had been deployed in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Besides, said Jega:

.the military will not be used, unless in an emergency; and

.the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) will be used.

He said most of the sensitive materials had been kept at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The INEC chairman also presented some samples of ballot boxes and prototype of ballot papers to the parties.

Jega foreclosed the jettisoning of SCRs, despite the protest by 15 “minor” parties. They were the same parties that had endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. But the PDP did not oppose the card reader at the meeting.

It was gathered that Jega spoke to the parties in a no-holds-barred manner for two hours on INEC’s readiness.

After the opening remarks, where Jega said some parties were heating up the polity with their utterances and attitude, the party leaders retired into a session on the status of preparation for the elections.

The INEC chairman said: “We are ready for the elections; all the materials (sensitive and non-sensitive) have been deployed. Some sensitive materials like ballot papers are being kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“We have been having meetings with security agencies on how to ensure the successful conduct of the poll. The security agencies are on top of their game.

Responding to a question, Jega said “the military will not be involved in the elections; they will only be deployed in case of emergency”.

Jega also presented samples of ballot boxes and why the ballot papers will look like to the leaders of the parties.

“The ballot boxes and papers will be colour-coded,” he added.

Asked to explain why the 700,000 staff for the elections had not been trained, Jega said: “We usually train them in the last week of the elections and it is from the training they go to the field.

“So, traditionally, the commission waits till the week of the elections to train these staff.”

The Director of Electoral Operations, Mr. Kayode Oladimeji spoke about logistics and deployment for the elections.

The parties that raised objections alleged that the failure rate of the SCRs was higher during the last Saturday Mock Election in 12 states.

But Jega said: “The commission believes that the Card Readers add a lot more value to the transparency and fairness of the electoral process. The SCR is not meant to confer electoral advantage on any party. We are going to use Card Readers; it is within the prerogative of the commission to ensure that the electoral process is free, fair and transparent. When we also did the cost benefit analysis, the SCR is far better.”

The Director of ICT of INEC, Mr. Chidi Nwafor, faulted claims that the failure rate of SCRs last Saturday was high.

He said: “All the four objectives behind the SCRs were 100 per cent successful. Let us assume that the fourth objective was not achieved, we have made provision for physical identification of voters once the SCR authenticates his or her PVC.”

Apparently overwhelmed by the detailed analysis of INEC, the representatives of the PDP said: “PDP is not against Card Readers but all the errors or flaws noted last Saturday should be addressed.”

A party source said: “Those against Card Readers lost out at the session because Jega foreclosed any plan to jettison the device.”

When APC raised issues on what INEC will do if voters mistakenly drop ballot papers in wrong boxes, the  Deputy Director, Electoral Operations, Mr. Chima Duruakwu, said such votes will become invalid.

He said it was left for parties to “educate their members and supporters” on how to vote right.

Addressing the opening session, Jega said: “The eyes of the whole world are on all of us in term of ensuring that we conduct not just free, fair and credible elections but also peaceful election.

“The altitude or disposition of parties and candidates is what to a large extent determine whether we have peaceful election or not.

“I particularly call on political parties and candidates to ensure that they engage positively in the electoral process.

“It is unfortunate that by actions of some political parties, or some candidates or their supporters a lot of tension has unnecessarily been raised relating to 2015 general elections.

“It is also unfortunate that we have witnessed conflict and violence in the process of elections campaign, and really these are some of the event that we should all work hard to ensure that this negative tendencies do not in any way compromise the conduct of the elections.’’

“We believe that we are adequately prepared for these elections because with the six-week extension, we have added value to the process to ensure that the objective of Nigerians of conducting credible election is satisfied.

“We, on our part, will continue to do our best to ensure that we are non-partisan and offer plain ground for all political parties and candidates.”

Jega urged the parties to “have very credible agents who can participate in these processes,  not only to added to the transparency of the process but to ensure that if irregularities occur, they could be easily identified and the evidence  would be there to prove that this has happen.

“ We also want to urge political parties and candidates to pay attention to the selection of credible people as agents. “

Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yunusa Tanko   said: “While we welcome the assurance given by INEC, security chiefs on the above three items, we will lean our voice on the observation of the card readers which is to be a check on the PVCs and enhance stability towards the elections.

“ We advise strongly that all the observations made by various political parties should be looked into by solving the problems, especially on finger identification and time consumed in the process of accreditation.”

He said INEC should ensure the full production and distribution of PVCs

Fed Govt blew N7b on National Conference, says Buhari

N O less than N7billion was blown on the National Conference  – the controversial talkshop that is the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration’s pill for all that ails the polity – it was learnt yesterday.

It’s a waste, All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. said.

In the view of Gen. Buhari, the money should have been spent on education.

The APC candidate spoke at a town hall meeting with some youths at the MUSON Centre in Lagos. He spoke extempore.

It was the second leg of the campaign by the party after a South South zonal rally held earlier in the day in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. The campaign was relaunched on Wednesday with the Northwest rally in Kaduna.

Tinubu raises alarm: PDP wants to assassinate me

There are plans to either frame up All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in a murder case or eliminate him before the general elections, his Media Office raised the alarm yesterday.

In a statement in Lagos, the office said that the motive is to halt the momentum the APC presidential standard bearer, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is gathering, ahead of the March 28 and April 11 elections.
According to the statement, the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)are behind the plot to implicate the eminent politician and remove him from circulation, until the elections are over.
The motive, added the statement, is to weaken Tinubu’s political influence nationwide and undermine his leadership in the politics of Southwest geo-political zone, which is perceived as the deciding factor during the presidential election.
It stressed: “ This part of the plot has two options. The first is  to employ trained snipers to attack Tinubu or assassinate him out right. This plan is consistent with the warning made by former President Obasanjo in his now famous 2014 letter to President Jonathan. Those within the PDP favouring this approach argue that when Chief Bola Ige, a powerful politician, was murdered, heavens did not fall, although the former President, is a Yoruba man.
“The second option is more crafty. The PDP will seek to resuscitate the case of the murder of Funso Williams, a former Lagos State governorship candidate, by blaming Tinubu for the killing. They are already coaching inmates and others. They are offering them the promise of early release and money, if they will make statements implicating Tinubu in the Williams murder. The Presidency intends to rush through this process with the hope of putting Tinubu out of circulation by trapping him in a contrived criminal process, until the elections are over.”
Chiding the PDP for desperation, the media office said the ruling party resorted to the option of planning to liquidate Tinubu, following the failure of its design to fracture the APC.
It added: “The PDP and Jonathan Presidency had recently tried to fracture the APC by offering Tinubu the position of the Vice President in an interim government, if he would agree to part company with the popular Buhari.  Once Tinubu rebuffed the offer to participate in the interim scheme, the Presidency decided to change tactics. It would no longer try to entice Tinubu with sugar, but would now move to silence and, if necessary, neutralise him.”
Noting that the APC National Leader has caused President Jonathan’s team sleepless nights during the electioneering, it said the hostility against him peaked, following his rejection of the offer to participate in the proposed interim government.

Tinubu, according to the media office, has asserted himself as a legitimate opposition leader through his prolific, robust and strident criticism of government’s socio-economic and security policies.
It stressed: “They blame him as the man who is most responsible for placing them in their current electoral quandary. They believe without Tinubu’s efforts, the successful merger of the political parties into the APC would not have occurred and they would not be facing possible defeat at the hands of this new party.
“The PDP faces its stiffest competition ever in 16 years and the person they blame the most is Tinubu, the major actor, who is seen as the strategic mind of the new party and one person who must be stopped at all cost. General Buhari has since been pencilled down for similar character assassination and vicious insults alongside other leaders of the APC.”
The media office recalled previous plots to dent Tinubu’s image by dredging discredited claims of illicit wealth to silence him.
It said when the plot to disgrace the former governor at the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) collapsed, the Presidency and the PDP opted for new plots to throw the APC into disarray to brighten its prospects of winning the election.
The media office said that Tinubu will not take these threats, plots and revelations lightly because of what it described as the government’s capacity for devilish acts.
It added: “For the party that boasts it will rule Nigeria for 60 years, it has become an unexpected season of political desperation. The PDP is worried that, on March 28, they will discover that they have fallen 44 years short of their dynastic goal. By all accounts, this has caused them to consider very drastic plots and schemes.
”Nigerians are confronted with a ruling party willing to descend to the lowest to win elections. Perceived political enemies are being hunted. Trumped-up allegations are being manufactured daily from the government factory of lies to taint the leading figures in the APC.”