Elections will hold in February, Jega insists

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restated its commitment to conducting the general election in February.

Speaking at an event in Abuja on Friday, Attahiru Jega, INEC chairman, maintained that the commission would hold the elections next month.

Sambo Dasuki, national security adviser, had suggested on Thursday that the elections be postponed following hitches with the distribution of permanent voter cards.

However, his suggestion was greeted with a flurry of negative reactions. Even Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president said it would be morally dubious on the part of the government to postpone the elections.

Also, the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, rejected the call for postponement, alleging that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government was angling to scuttle the elections for fear of defeat.

“I have said everything we are doing, including the challenges of the distribution of permanent voter card, we believe is something we can address long before February 14,” Jega said.

“We issued the election timetable for February 14 almost a year ago‎ and we have been very busy working to implement that timetable to the letter.”

He also disclosed that more than 50 million of the 68 million cards were already available while 4.1 million were received on Thursday.

“That gives us the confidence that before the end of January, all the remaining cards will be available and made available for people to collect,” he said.