The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday debunked speculations making the rounds that there are plans to postpone next year’s general election, saying they are mere rumours. He asserted that the Commission has put in effort to make sure the 2015 elections were successful.
Jega, who disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen at the public presentation of the Nigerian Media Code of Election coverage held in Lagos, said: “A lot of the information being spread about elections not holding next year are just rumours and nothing more.”
Admitting that there exist areas of the electoral process which are beyond the control of the INEC, Jega restated the electoral body’s earlier promise that it was prepared to conduct free and fair general elections come 2015.
The INEC boss, who asserted that the commission’s confidence was in its preparedness, said: “What I can guarantee you is that INEC as an electoral body is, prepared to conduct the elections in every part of the country.”
He further noted, “We have done a lot of training and retraining. We have a good working relationship with all the stakeholders. We have made arrangement for a better working condition for all INEC ad hoc staff, and have increased their remuneration.
“We have also prepared for security during the process, and have introduced what we call election management security tool.”
He explained that the tool which was first pioneered in Kenya helps to guage security challenges ahead of the election and how such challenges can be mitigated.
Jega, was however quick to point out that one constraint which could likely pose a challenge in the aftermath of next years’ elections was the ambiguity inherent in some sections of the Electoral Act, which he said was being amended in the National Assembly.
“We have been urging the lawmakers in the National Assembly for a long time to quicken the process of correcting the contradictions in some sections of the Electoral Act. We continue to appeal to them to speed up the process,” he said.
Expressing confidence in the overall process adopted by INEC to make next year’s election truly free, fair and transparent, Jega pointed out that what worries the commission was the conduct and disposition of politicians, saying, “No matter what INEC does, if key and critical stakeholders decide to undermine the electoral process, there is nothing we can do.”
Jega, who charged traditional, religious and local leaders to be more actively engaged in their communities so as to proactively stop those likely to foment trouble, further called on the media to cooperate with the commission.
His words, “Due to the conduct of our politicians who use election to divide based on ethnicity and religion, it becomes imperative that the media stakeholder report elections and the processes ethically and professionally.
“Also, all stakeholders must ensure that politicians play politics in decorum, and ensure that they do not use our young men in the conducts that are in defiance to existing laws and could derail the integrity of the process.”
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