The executive director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, has disclosed that those who are pushing for the postponement of the February elections are doing so because they want the tenure of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Atahiru Jega to elapse before elections are held so that they can make a puppet of their own to supervise the elections.
Rafsanjani stated this in an interview with Saturday Independent in Abuja Friday, adding that the call was an attempt to ensure that the current chairman of the electoral body does not supervise the elections.
According to him, the originators of the call for the shifting of the election are aware that Jega’s tenure is about to elapse, hence a shift in the election will mean that he (Jega) will be out of office when the elections eventually hold, adding that this would enable politicians who are afraid of the high integrity posture of Jega to install their puppet in his place.
“The whole calculation of attempting to shift this election is because some people are not comfortable with the current INEC chairman to conduct this election because of his high-level integrity.
“They, therefore, want the tenure of the current chairman, which is about to elapse, to end and then they will replace him with somebody they know will do their bidding. That is the calculation and that is the hidden agenda,” Rafsanjani said.
He condemned the plot to postpone the election, saying, “I can assure you that Nigerians are really desperate to have leaders that are capable of dealing with their various challenges. I think the call for the shifting of the election will be very unfair for Nigerians because this is the only means by which we can change any leader.
“INEC has not over time created any doubt, they have continued to assured Nigerians that they are going to conduct this election. We should go ahead and do this election.”
On the possibility of the disenfranchment of some eligible voters if they do not get their permanent voter cards before election day, Rafsanjani said: “Even if you postpone this election to next year, some people will still complain that they have not gotten their PVCs.”
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