The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Friday dismissed calls for the postponement of the February 14 presidential election and the February 28 governorship election, stating that the commission would implement the elections guidelines to the letter. This is as the All Progressives Congress (APC) has vowed to galvanise mass action against any attempt to shift the February 14 date for kick-starting of the general elections in the country. Also, Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district at the national assembly, Senator Bukola Saraki, urged Nigerians to reject any attempt by self-seeking politicians to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the February elections in the country. However, prominent lawyers like Professor Itse Sagay SAN, Nigerian Bar Association President, Augustine Alegheh, SAN, and Festus Keyamo said the electoral umpire had the right to postpone elections going by the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act. Sagay said “You definitely cannot postpone it in the sense that it will be held at a date later than 90 days to May 29 and it cannot be held later than 90 days to May 29. For that to happen they have to give a reason and the national Assembly have to meet and pass a motion in support of it. That is the only way elections can effectively be postponed. INEC Fixes the date but it is restricted within a period and that period must not be later than 90 days to expiration of the tenure of the government in office”. Reminded that the period was close to the elections, he said, “Yes but it is a very short allowance. In fact, by the time you look at February 14 and you count three months from then, we are talking of less than two weeks margin. So it really doesn’t worth it”. Alegeh said the provisions had to be followed and that at this stage, given the date when the tenure of the current regime would end, fiddling with the date could lead to constitutional crisis. “INEC always have the power for stated reasons to reschedule elections but not to change the date constitutionally set out for the election. If for example, election is for Saturday and due to any challenges as we have seen in the past INEC can do so. And that is why when INEC is fixing date for elections, they tried to give some allowances so that if there is need to move by one or two days it will be easy. But we must all appreciate that this transition is going to end May 29 and election must be held within 90 days. And in any event, from the little that we have read the ground for proposing to postpone the election is the PVC, what is the assurance on ground that the PVC situation will change if you move the election. We still have some time between now and Election Day and government can run machinery of letting people know how to pick up their PVC. On the side of the NBA, it became aware of a particular website that you could go to and you just key in your temporary voters card in and you will be able to know the exact location to pick up you PVC. “We have circulated that to all our lawyers. Those are kind of measures that can be taken now to ensure that people know where their cards can be collected and they do not need to be travelling miles to pick their PVC. So, for me these are the steps that need to be taken. I may not be correct but I don’t think that postponements of the elections could solve the problems. Moreover, it is not a new problem, we have been speaking of this problem for a very long time and we have had sufficient time to sort the problem out, not to wait until the last day and start to say that the elections should be postponed. At least the talk about PVC has been on for well over three months so why is it that suddenly, three weeks or thereabout to the election we now believe that by postponing the elections will do the magic. And for how many days or how long? These are the issues. Personally and on our part as NBA, we believe that postponing the election will not solve any problem rather we should take more progressive steps to ensure that people can get their PVC”, he said. Keyamo said, “INEC has the power to organise elections and to the extent, that it has power to organise election, it has power to determine the dates for those elections. So INEC has power to reorganise the dates for elections. Remember 2011, at the last minute INEC called off the elections. On the day they were to hold the election, there were a lot itches on that day and it was on that same reason that Prof. Jega announced the postponement for another one week. That was what happened in 2011. However, I must say that in this era of mutual competition between the parties and this era where the political atmosphere is charged, any postponement of election will be the recipe for another June 12. And if we are not careful, it may lead to military intervention and we are all going to be the potential victims. So, INEC must be very careful because any postponement of election will lead to wide spread riot. “It’s very simple, because everybody sees it as a ploy by the ruling party to manipulate the process. It is Jonathan’s Special Adviser that threw the kite way in London saying that he has advised the INEC to postpone the election. Now you have a situation where the kite flew by the SA and INEC concede, anybody will come to the conclusion that INEC is working hand in hand with the ruling party to truncate the process. “That was the practical mistake the ruling party made; they should have allowed INEC itself to fly that kite. INEC should have come out that it’s not ready; INEC should have come to say it need more time to organise things. But for the ruling party to allow a member of the government to do it, everybody will come to the conclusion that INEC is working with the government to truncate the process. It is the mutual suspicion that is the problem”. He said, We have issued an election guideline since 2014 and we are very busy implementing the election guidelines as published by the commission. And we shall implement that election guidelines to the letter.” Jega who refused to comment on the position of the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki that the election should be postponed, said, “I dont want to comment on this. Like everybody, we read it in the papers. I myself have read many things that have been attributed to me which I know I didnt say. So until I can confirm and get clarification, it will be premature for me at this public event to start saying anything. I have no comments on it.”
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 22:01:39 +0000
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