10 parties vow to resist ‘plot to remove Jega from INEC’

The coalition of progressive political parties, which comprises 10 registered political parties, says it will resist any attempt to change the current composition of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The political parties are Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Accord Party (AP), African Peoples Alliance (APA), Kowa Party, Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP), United Progressives Party (UPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress, Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).

The group was reacting to reports that subterranean plots were underway to remove Attahiru Jega as chairman of INEC.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Bashir Yusuf, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, expressed the group’s disappointment with the decision of INEC to postpone the general election.

Jega had announced on Saturday that the elections originally scheduled for February 14 and 28 would be held on March 28 and April 11.

Arguing that INEC was pressured to take the decision, Yusuf stated that President Goodluck Jonathan had ‘vested interest’ in postponing the elections.

“We will resist any attempt to tamper with the current composition of INEC,” he said.

“The Coalition of Progressive Political Parties is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone Nigeria’s general election, scheduled since 13 months ago to commence of February 14, 2015.”

The postponement came in spite of the reaction of Nigerians rejecting the idea when it was first mooted in the UK by Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), a colonel and national security adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, about three weeks ago.

“It will be recalled, the first reason given for the postponement of the election by Col Dasuki was the low number of distribution and collection of Permanent Voters Cards and the fear of disenfranchisement of eligible voters.

“When it became clear, from the numbers released by INEC that this reason will not fly, the NSA came up with another reason barely a day before the National Council of State was to meet to consider the earlier reason given in support of the postponement.

“This time around, the NSA disingenuously offered a different reason totally unrelated to the first: ‘new developments’ related to the insurgency raging in the north-east and the inability of the armed forces to provide security for the election arising therefrom.

The NSA, then, on behalf of the Service Chiefs, asked INEC to “reschedule” the elections for at least the next six weeks in the first instance, to enable the armed forces secure the areas affected by the insurgency for the elections to hold.

“Both the first and the second reasons advanced by the NSA cannot stand the test of scrutiny for the following reasons:

“In its fortnightly meeting with political parties and its public statements, INEC had repeatedly and consistently expressed its readiness to conduct the elections as earlier scheduled on the basis of the Permanent Voters Card distributed and collected and the totality of its state of preparedness to conduct the election up as recent as one week ago.

“According to INEC, 96% of the PVCs have already been produced and distributed across the 36 states and the FCT while the rate of collection stood at about 68% across board.

“The balance of four percent had also been produced and was being distributed for collection before the election was to commence. In the history of Nigeria’s election, there was never a time the nation recorded anywhere up to 60% of voter turn out.

“The insurgency in the northeast had raged for over five years and the armed forces under its Commander-in-Chief has been on the retreat in the last one year leading to the loss of a total of 24 local government areas to the insurgents in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

“These constitute three percent of the total number of 774 LGAs in the country that are safe and not threatened by insurgents and therefore not in any security zone.

“INEC had already designed a plan to enable over one million Internally Displaced Persons from these 24 LGAs to cast their votes, which plan was presented to and approved by stakeholders from the areas concerned as recent as mid January, 2015.”

The group maintained that INEC, the NSA, the security forces and the president, commander-in-chief of the armed forces have a responsibility to ensure the general election holds on the rescheduled dates and must ensure that the new dates are not rescheduled again, under any circumstance.

“Similarly, the handover date of 29th May 2015 is non negotiable and must remain sacrosanct as any attempt to tamper with it will amount to truncating our democracy and putting the peace, unity and political stability of our nation at risk,” it said.

“The composition of the current INEC leadership must not be undermined or tampered with, as this will constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine the election itself and influence its outcome.”