Jonathan’s team, Arewa, leaders urge support for Jega on new plan

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 ALTHOUGH they expressed shock over the cancellation of the National Assembly's election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Senate President David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, have appealed to Nigerians to show understanding with the electoral umpire.

They canvassed this position before INEC and the political parties agreed to shift the federal legislature's election from today to Saturday, earlier slated for the presidential polls.

Under the new arrangement, the National Assembly's election will be followed by the presidential polls on Saturday, April 16 and governorship and state assemblies' polls on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.               .

This arrangement is to avoid holding the governorship election during the Easter celebration.

PDP campaign body said yesterday that it viewed with "shock and consternation the circumstances leading to the postponement of the National Assembly elections by INEC.

"Given the enormous resources and logistic preparations that INEC claimed to have put in place, we are at a loss as to why there were these kinds of avoidable lapses at the last minute. This act of negligence is capable of portraying INEC in bad light and many are likely to question its ability to conduct a credible election.

"It is really interesting that this unfortunate incident happened less than 24 hours after the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, addressed the nation and assured us of adequate preparations for the election. We sympathise with Nigerians who turned out in large numbers to exercise their civic responsibilities only to be disappointed by this announcement.

"In spite of the huge setback and difficulties occasioned by this unfortunate postponement, we call on our supporters nationwide to remain steadfast and turn out en-masse once again to cast their votes on the new date INEC has fixed," Malam Abba Dabo,

Director, Media and Publicity, said.

Mark has called on Nigerians not to lose confidence in the capacity of INEC to deliver on credible, free and fair elections.

In an interview with journalists at Otukpo, Benue State at the weekend, Mark said: "INEC should still be held in confidence."

He called on Nigerians to still troop out in large numbers to vote in the elections.

The Senate boss through his Media Adviser, Kola Ologbondiyan, urged Nigerians to remain calm, adding that the challenges would be addressed promptly.

Also, Bankole has commended the electorate for trooping out en-masse for Saturday's botched elections to "perform their civic duty of ensuring sustainable and future development of Nigeria".

He however regretted the postponement of the elections, saying it was a sacrifice that all Nigerians had to make to ensure free and fair elections.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu said yesterday that it may require another amendment to the Electoral Act for another extension in the time frame for the National Assembly elections to hold should INEC fail to get it right.

He said that any attempt to halt the elections might mean altering the Electoral Act to re-fix it or not holding it at all in view of the 30 days time frame, which the amended Act stipulated.

While in Enugu at the weekend, Ekweremadu said INEC must do all within its power to get right today (before the new rescheduling for Saturday, April 9) or forget about the conduct of  2011 National Assembly elections and proceed with others.

He said the commission by the postponement of Saturday's election midway into the exercise, showed that it was not ready, stressing that though it was embarrassing to Nigerians, it was the best thing to do in view of the situation the commission found itself.

Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has urged Nigerians to accept the apology by INEC for the cancellation of the National Assembly election and come out en-masse and perform their civic rights at the new date..          .

ACF said yesterday that "this period of the country's democratic history should be taken seriously by ensuring that all impediments to elections are not be allowed to derail the process and truncate democracy."

Its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, who reacted at the weekend to the decision by INEC to shift the National Assembly election first to today and again to Saturday, April 9, pointed out that "the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Jega has made the announcement in which he said due to circumstances beyond the control of INEC, the commission has postponed the National Assembly elections."

He said: "This is a worthy sacrifice for Nigerians to make. It is no time to ask questions about who set the house on fire but for Nigerians to co-operate and put off the fire first".               .

But the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dele Momodu, has described as unfortunate the inability of INEC to hold the National Assembly polls as planned.

He said: "From my experience in global publishing operations, there is not much that can be achieved in the delivery and nationwide distribution of the voting materials within the next 48 hours. Second, there is no point disrupting commercial activities today. Hardworking Nigerian citizens must not be made to pay for the mistakes of INEC. Nigerians must go to work and must not be kept in perpetual suffering till Tuesday. Also, students who have schools to attend and exams to write must not be disturbed by the election..."            .

Similarly, the Action Alliance (AA) has passed a vote of no confidence on INEC over what it described as corrupt and unlawful exclusion of all its candidates from the botched elections.

The party's presidential candidate, Martin Onovo, told journalists in Lagos yesterday that the unlawful exclusion of AA candidates, including himself, represented the summit of INEC's lawlessness and impunity.

Onovo said on February 2, 2011, the party wrote a protest letter to Jega, which he allegedly refused to reply but subsequently, the INEC Director of Public Affairs issued a statement in several newspapers on Saturday, February 5, 2011, that 11 parties including AA had all their nominations, which were previously rejected, re-admitted.

"INEC accepted forms of these other parties and still refused to accept AA forms. We filed suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/232/11 against INEC at the Federal High Court, Abuja. INEC has employed all crooked administrative tactics to delay the case unjustly," he noted.   The Secretary-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite and the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, have joined other Nigerians to condemned the last minute postponement of the National Assembly election by Jega.

In two separate statements made available to The Guardian in Lagos yesterday, they slammed the electoral umpire for waiting till the last minute when things had really gone out of hand before announcing the postponement of the election.           .

Adegbite cautioned INEC against delayed actions, noting that "since some delicate materials were not produced in Nigeria and do not arrive in the country at least three clear days before scheduled election, the inevitable decision to postpone the election must be taken forthwith, and an announcement duly made there and then." .

 



Source: Jonathan's team, Arewa, leaders urge support for Jega on new plan

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