INEC POSTPONES FEBRUARY 2015 ELECTIONS

Chukwudi Ohiri

News just reaching us now is that the proposed general elections scheduled for February 14, and 28 2015 has been rescheduled. The elections will now hold on March 28 and April 11 respectively.

Briefing Journalists at the end of a marathon meeting with stakeholders, Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss cited unpreparedness of the security agencies to guarantee security of lives and property of citizens especially in the troubled spots of the North-East as the main reason for the postponement insisting that INEC was prepared for the elections but had to reschedule the election on the advice of the National security team.

He ruled out the possibility of resigning his appointment based on calls by some groups for his resignation on grounds of ineptitude and allegations of complicity with the opposition party APC to tilt the elections in its favour. Jega threatened that he would have sued those accusing him of complicity for damages were it not for his busy schedule of ensuring a credible, free and fair election. However, Prof. Jega said he would willingly resign if anybody could come up with a proof  that he erred in any way in the conduct of his duty as INEC Chairman.   

Prof. Jega reiterated that distribution of PVCs cannot and is not the reason for rescheduling the elections but that the Commission would take the advantage of the postponement to perfect its preparations where they were hitherto lagging behind. He ruled out categorically that nobody has forced the Commission to take its decision on the elections as it was thoroughly reviewed before arriving at the final decision to shift the polls.