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Ntama: PDP’s push for 2015 polls shift

By Jacinta Ntama
02 February 2015   |   11:00 pm
TOWARDS the end of last year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised an alarm and alleged that there were subterranean moves by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the presidency and its cohorts to postpone the general elections scheduled for next month. Not many Nigerians took the APC’s allegation serious, considering the level of allegations and…

TOWARDS the end of last year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised an alarm and alleged that there were subterranean moves by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the presidency and its cohorts to postpone the general elections scheduled for next month. Not many Nigerians took the APC’s allegation serious, considering the level of allegations and counter-allegations between it and the PDP since its successful merger. Some assumed that it was part of campaign and politicking that will precede the election. But consistently APC repeatedly alerted Nigerians about plans by the PDP to shift the February elections. When the allegation was made, neither the PDP nor the Presidency refuted or acknowledged it. The duo maintained studied silence.

    The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) has recently canvassed for the postponement of next month’s elections to give the Independent National Electoral Commission time to distribute over 30 million outstanding Permanent Voter Cards to registered voters. Dasuki, according to report, said he had told the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law, would be a good idea. Before Dasuki spoke at the Chatham House, a London think-tank group supportive of the PDP had also advised that the elections should be shifted.

   Dasuki told participants at a talk in London, that INEC, which had distributed over 30 million cards late last year, had assured him that the outstanding PVCs would be given out before February 14, the first day of the elections. He, however, stated that he believed it would make more sense to shift the elections since the law provided a 90-day window during which elections could legally take place. “It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,” Dasuki said reportedly, adding however, that it was for INEC and not for him, to decide.

    Dasuki’s call could be a confirmation of an official tinkering with the idea of compelling INEC to postpone the elections as earlier alleged by APC. For a serving National Security Adviser in the PDP-led government to openly canvass for the shift of the polls calls for concern. Is the Presidency, PDP and their cohorts planning to have the election postponed through INEC? 

  Before Dasuki’s call, Adamawa State governor, Mr. Bala Ngilari has made a similar call for the shift of the polls. The unison in the thinking of the PDP chieftains is not only suspicious, but conspiratorial. Their reasons are not tenable because INEC had assured that the remaining permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) would be continuously distributed till February 13. It would also be recalled that in most of his campaign speeches, President Jonathan had always said that May 29 handover is sacrosanct. Instead of championing for a shift of the polls, the PDP and its allies should call for the use of the temporary voters’ cards for the elections as demanded by members of the House of Representatives during their last session. Hiding under the flimsy excuse that previous elections have been conducted in April to justify their position for the shift is hypocritical and questionable. Why not call for the shift earlier than now to save the Commission and Nigerians time and money? 

     The speculative report in the media that the PDP and Presidency is desperately trying to procure court injunction to stop the polls and the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) from contesting it is worrisome. If true, it means that the country may be heading back to the days of June 12, 1993 political chaos. Nigerians should remind the PDP and its champions of poll shift about JP Clark’s poem titled “The Casualties.” As can be seen across the country, some sponsored groups have been staging protests to INEC offices across the country including Abuja asking for the shift of the polls to allow Nigerians collect their PVCs. Actions and body languages of these groups are not quite different from what some PDP chieftains and their allies are asking for. So it may be hand of Esau and voice of Jacob.

    But the questions for Nigerians are why should PDP chieftains ask for the shift of polls now and mount pressure on INEC to disqualify Buhari on the ground of non-qualification? Presently, PDP is in dire need of peace, unity and cohesion following the intra-party crisis that had trailed the outcome of its primaries across the country. The party chieftains know that the discontent in many of its state branches will haunt them in the elections if conducted as scheduled. Is the clamour for postponement designed to enable PDP put its house in order and demonise the APC presidential candidate, Buhari more through fabricated documentaries and spurious adverts? It seems the party needs more time to propagate President Jonathan’s unverifiable achievements in the last six years, which Nigerians have called to question.

    PDP chieftains’ push for poll shift smacks of desperation and lack of confidence in the ability of the party to win the general elections convincingly. If anything, such request should have emanated from the opposition APC, having not been in the helm of affairs of the country in the last six years.

    Besides, PDP’s undue pressure on INEC to disqualify Buhari on the ground of non-possession of requisite qualification is pure pettiness and undue distraction from germane issues at stake. PDP should heed INEC’s advice to approach the court because by the laws, INEC has no power whatsoever to disqualify candidates submitted by political parties in an election. Why is the PDP or Presidency afraid of going to court over the issue, but have continued to mount campaign of calumny against the leadership of the INEC? The leadership of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation has even threatened to pass vote of no confidence on INEC for not disqualifying Buhari. What a cheap blackmail for a party that appears to be drowning and has continued to chase rat while its house is on fire.                            

   Although INEC has come out to say that even though it had yet to receive any formal request for the postponement of the elections, it would nevertheless stick to its timetable for the polls. “It is not a contemplation of the commission at all. As far as we are talking now, the date is what it is,” Jega’s spokesman, Kayode Idowu, said, adding that “as far as the commission is concerned, it is on course regarding the February schedule for the general elections. Postponement is not being contemplated.”

   Also, in a statement, APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed said Dasuki’s call had exposed a hitherto clandestine plot by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to push for the postponement of the polls, using all sorts of cheap tricks.

 The statement read in part: “Now that we have found the smoking gun, we are urging the international community, in particular, to urgently extract a commitment from President Jonathan that the elections will hold as scheduled next month and that he would respect the outcome. Dasuki was only seeking to buy time for the slugging Jonathan electioneering to gather steam by hinging his postponement call on the delay in PVCs distribution.”

   Meanwhile, INEC’s quick response to the call and clarification is a welcome development. It shows its readiness and firmness to conduct the polls as scheduled. The Commission should work hard to ensure that all registered voters get their PVCs before the elections as promised. It is the Commission’s constitutional right to fix date for elections not PDP or anybody including the Presidency. All eyes are on it, and the Commission’s leadership should not allow itself to be used as a pawn in the political chessboard of anybody ahead of the polls. 

    Nigerians are aware that the hiccups being experienced by the Commission towards the preparation of the polls is as a result of the Federal Government’s failure to release all the Commission’s 2014 budgetary allocation, a development many believe is deliberate and political, to ensure that polls are shifted as being canvassed by PDP members and supporters. Prominent Nigerians should mount pressure on the Federal Government to release all the Commission’s 2014 budgetary allocation to enable them conduct free and fair election next month. Nigerians at this critical search for true and capable leadership cannot afford to witness compromised and rigged elections.

• Ntama a retired civil servant wrote from Asaba, Delta State  

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