• NBA task INEC on PVCs distribution

• HURIWA wants Balarabe Musa’s allegation probed

THE Deputy Director-General, President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, has exonerated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from any pressure on the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to shift election dates as being alleged in some quarters.

  Speaking to The Guardian Monday, Adeniran said it was very glaring that INEC was far from being ready to conduct a credible election, in which every registered voter would be allowed to vote a candidate of choice.

  But the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has alleged that fear of defeat by President Goodluck Jonathan was the reason for the postponement.

  Meanwhile, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) have urged INEC to utilize the postponement of the general elections to resolve the challenges surrounding the issuance of Permanent Voter’s Cards [PVCs].

  Adeniran said: “We knew that INEC was far from ready in view of over 34 per cent of the electorates that had not collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) and other logistical and operational inadequacies that ought to have been addressed before now”.

  He noted that although PDP as a party welcome the postponement, there was no doubt that it has posed a new challenge on the party. “But we welcome the decision because INEC took it after wide consultations with stakeholders and critically examining their own state of preparedness. The alteration of the timetable is well within the mandate of INEC, guaranteed by their enabling laws.

“INEC gave reasons of insecurity and the fact that security agencies had notified them in writing of their need for time to guarantee security during this most crucial stage of Nigeria’s democratic process.

 “The PDP as well as the Presidential Campaign Organisation (PCO) are law abiding and will always react to developments within the framework of the Rule of Law. We have submitted ourselves to the new parameters while studying both immediate and long-term implications of the postponement, and hoping that INEC will use the extension to put its house in order and conduct transparently free, fair and credible elections,” Adeniran said.

 He added that in the main time, the campaign group and the PDP in general would use the opportunity to further market their presidential candidate and his achievements towards the welfare of the people.

“In the interim, our dear party will continue to remind the electorate and citizens of our great country of the vast achievements of our party and its candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, towards the welfare and development of Nigeria, and the need to vote him back into office.

“We remain determined and will focus on engaging the Nigerian people on the President’s record and manifesto to ensure we arrive at the promised land premised on consolidating his transformation agenda”.

   The opposition APC, in a statement by its campaign’s Directorate of Media and Publicity on Monday, said that “while the election postponement was supposedly to enable a multinational force that will launch an onslaught on Boko Haram and recover the terrorist group’s stolen territories, President Jonathan had actually seen the handwriting on the wall and had become desperate.

   The statement added that President Jonathan had the past five years to do everything his government could to stem the Boko Haram crisis, and is now allegedly pretending to be concerned about the people of the northeast.

 According to the APC campaign group, “the election postponement was simply a postponement of the inevitable.  There is nothing the president can do to change anything within six weeks.”

  The NBA, in a statement by its President, Augustine Alegeh (SAN),  said there are still about 20 million PVCs yet to be collected by registered voters while some PVCs are still being produced and/or awaiting delivery at this time.

  In the statement, Alegeh stated that the  new dates of March 28,  and April 11, 2015 fixed by INEC fall within the timeline provided in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and restated NBA’s call on INEC to request the Federal Government to declare a minimum of two work free days to enable voters collect their PVCs from their polling stations.      

  According to him, INEC should also ensure that PVCs are produced for all voters whose names appear in the Voters’ Register. “PVCs are central to the success of the 2015 general elections and INEC must apply its best endeavours to ensure that all problems in respect of PVCs are resolved well before March 28, 2015.

  “Our entire democratic experience depends on the success of the 2015 general elections and INEC must ensure that everything necessary is put in place for successful polls. NBA noted that the decision of INEC to postpone the elections by six weeks was in the light of the security advisory received from the security agencies that the required security personnel are engaged in a military operation against Boko Haram and will not be available to protect electoral materials and staff if the elections were held on 14th and 28th February, 2015 as originally scheduled.

“The NBA also noted that the security advisory relied upon by INEC in postponing the polls indicates that Nigerian security forces are aggressively combating the Boko Haram insurgency and expect to totally eliminate the insurgents and secure the north eastern states of Nigeria, that have taken the brunt of the insurgents’ attacks, in the next six weeks.”

  The security advisory, Alegeh said,  left INEC with no other option than to postpone the elections, since the electoral umpire can certainly not be expected to proceed with the elections without the required security support.

  The NBA further expressed hopes that this security advisory is not just to provide basis for postponing the elections as is being suggested in certain quarters, but represents the true and correct position of our security forces in their efforts to rid our country of the Boko Haram insurgency.

  “We await a positive and successful outcome of the security forces onslaught against Boko Haram as indicated in the security advisory. Our security agencies must understand the disappointment of several groups who have expressed their reservations on the postponement as a result of the security advisory.

“The task before our security forces now is to deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgency to resolve any lingering doubts about the good faith of the security advisory. If indeed the Boko Haram menace is routed in the next six weeks, all Nigerians will then appreciate and celebrate our security forces”, he stated.

 Also, HURIWA, a civil rights platform, challenged INEC to redress the systemic anomalies said to be have been noticed in the distribution of the PVCs which it says is skewed in favour of the northern region. The group demanded probe of the allegedly damaging allegations by the former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, that the current INEC’s leadership is scheming out states suspected of being strong support base of one of the presidential candidates in the distribution of the PVCs.