Why Jonathan supports polls shift – Okupe

Why Jonathan supports polls shift – Okupe

The Presidency on Friday listed some of the reasons it feels that going ahead with the February dates for the general elections as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can “throw the country into turmoil and confusion.”

It however said President Goodluck Jonathan would not engage in any
form of subterfuge to pressurise INEC to change the dates of the
elections.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr.
Doyin Okupe, stated these in Abuja at a press conference called to
clarify the outcome of the Council of State meeting held on Thursday.

Okupe said there was no time during the meeting held inside the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, when the chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, insisted on the February dates as quoted by some media
reports.

He listed the level of preparedness of the electoral body and security
situation in some parts of the country as some of the reasons why it
will be wise to revisit the February dates.

On preparation, Okupe said in all INEC’s submissions at the meeting,
the only process that was 100% concluded was the preparation and
availability of the voters register.

He claimed that all other processes including provision, distribution
and collection of PVCs, printing of ballot papers, distribution of
verification machines and other non –sensitive materials, recruitment
and training of ad hoc staff are all “work in progress.”

He added that Jega himself admitted that given a little more time,
INEC would be in a better position to perfect the processes and its
readiness for the elections.

He said, “Also in his presentations to the Council, the INEC Chairman,
stated clearly that for the electoral process to be free, fair, and
credible, there are other matters which were not under the control of
INEC, principal among which is the issue of provision and guarantee of
security of lives and properties.

“The Security Chiefs were unanimous in their advice to the Council
that it will be impossible for now for them to guarantee security of
electoral materials, INEC Staff, and the voting population in the areas
currently engulfed by the war against insurgency.”

Okupe said while some opinions were proffered that elections could be
allowed to hold on February 14 in 32 states not affected by
insurgency, Jonathan made it clear that he would not allow an election
where some people will be excluded for no fault of theirs.

He quoted the President as further saying that endorsing such would
tend to confirm the falsehood already being propagated in some parts
of the country that he was encouraging the war in the North East to
ensure that voters in the APC states were not allowed to vote in the
2015 elections.

He added, “For the avoidance of doubt, Nigerians are hereby re-
assured that there has never been, and never shall be any plan to
cancel the 2015 elections, for any reasons whatsoever. It will not
happen, and the May 29th date for the swearing-in is sacrosanct. All
talks about interim government arrangement is pure fiction.

“The consideration behind the possibility of change of date is to allow
those who may be disfranchised from voting on the 14th February to
have an opportunity to exercise their lawful rights to vote and
participate in the general elections.”

“The new wave of successes being recorded by the Military in the War
against insurgency, especially with the arrival of new effective
combatant equipment and machinery, plus the newly revamped cross
border co-operation with Niger, Chad and Cameroonian Military, offer a
very genuine hope that in a very short while, the situation in the
affected states will be brought under such reasonable control that will
guarantee safety of the electoral process and electorate in the war
front region of the North–East at a no distant future”.

“We repeat that the only set of people who stand to benefit from a
shift in election dates are Nigerians who desire to vote and have not
been able to collect their Permanent Voters Cards and other innocent
citizens living in the war zone who may not be able to vote on the
14th February. ”

“We also wish to recollect that in 2003, 2007, and 2011 the elections
were held in April, and the hand over date was not affected.”
“We therefore challenge the opposition to tell Nigerians in clear terms,
what dangers the change of date from February 14th portends to the
electoral process or to the Nigerian electorate. It will also be good if
the opposition tells us who stands to benefit or be disadvantaged from
any shifting of date and how.”

Okupe, while saying that INEC was not fully ready for the elections,
dared the commission to direct its Resident Electoral Commissioners
to swear to an affidavit to prove their readiness for the polls. ”
“It will be very re-assuring if the INEC can get its RECs to attach their
state of readiness to a sworn affidavit and show it to Nigerians. “The
interest of this government is to ensure that we do not have a
rancorous and poorly conducted general elections that will throw the
country into turmoil and confusion with the likelihood of an
unnecessary internal and external rejection and condemnation,” he
said.

Okupe claimed that in Sokoto State, nine local government areas are
yet to receive PVC for the continuous voters registration, barely nine
days to the election.

He also claimed that the majority of the 960,000 ad hoc staff needed
by the commission are yet to be recruited and trained especially on
the operations of card readers that are yet to be made available. He
added that Lagos State is yet to receive a balance of about 12,000
card readers for elections.

-Punch.