The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has threatened to rather resign his appointment than postpone the scheduled February general elections. He said nobody’s demand, including that of the National Council of States (NCS), or any other institution, will make INEC to postpone the February general elections as scheduled. The source further said that Jega confided in them that he will appeal even a court order on this issue, and that only a Supreme Court order will make him shift ground.
A highly reliable source close to the INEC Chairman who pleaded anonymity told Universal Reporters that Prof. Jega told a group of close friends to which he belongs this morning that he would would rather resign his appointment and save his personal and professional integrity as an academic than be humiliated by the act of postponing the elections. The INEC Chairman was said to have dropped this hint against the backdrop of stories making rounds in the media that the NCS may advise against holding the February election, using the inexcusable excuse of poor distribution of PVCs. He said in spite of all the efforts put by his commission and with over 80% of PVCs made available, it will be dishonest for anybody to use this exercise to call for the postponement of the elections.Our source said Jega told them that if postponement is forced on the commission, then the only honourable option open to him is to resign.
The source concluded by saying that it is Jega’s view both as a professor of Political Science and his experience as INEC’s Chairman that any postponement of the election would cause more harm to the country than good.
The issue of postponing the February elections has been making waves for sometime now, and it took a new dimension when the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Sambo Dasuki, joined the fray in London last week.
