As the intrigues surrounding the tenure of Attahiru Jega, chairman of Independent Electoral Commission rages on, Chris Iyimoga, chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, has stated in clear terms that the Commission lacks the jurisdiction to comment on whether its chairman will be removed or will be allowed to conduct the forth-coming elections, stressing that the power to do such rests with the Presidency with accent from the National Assembly. Iyimoga made the Commission’s position known Wednesday at the briefing for members of the INEC press corps in Abuja.
According to him, the question of Jega’s being at the helm of affairs at INEC on March 28 and April 11 elections is an issue the Commission cannot dabble into.
“The Commission is not in position to say when or how the chairman will be removed from office. That can only be decided by the president with an endorsement from the National Assembly,” he said.
On the issue of the permanent voters’ cards, Iyimoga said the commission took full advantage of the postponement to rev up distribution of permanent voters’ cards, saying 80.24percent of the cards have been distributed so far. “I am delighted to report that we have achieved 80.24 percent distribution of PVC. In all, 55,232,875 PVCs have been collected. I am also delighted to report that we have taken delivery of ballot papers and boxes. As at Tuesday, February 12, 2015, we had received ballot papers meant for all the elections and taken them to the states. They are securely locked at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vaults across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), awaiting further distribution at the eve of each of the elections. We have also received and distributed all ballot boxes meant for the elections,” he said.
“We have also intensified our civic education efforts. The commission has collaborated with national council of arts to disseminate messages to grassroots,” he added. Iyimoga, while allaying the fears about speculations making the rounds on the reliability of card readers, he stressed that though the machines had been tested before now, the Commission was still planning to conduct further tests on them prior to the elections.
“As we speak Smart Card Readers have been distributed to the states – enough for all the PUs and Voting Points. Even though the Commission had satisfactorily tested the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) before the re-scheduling of the elections, it is to further conduct more rigorous field testing of the functionality of the SCRs which will be deployed for accreditation of voters on Election Day,” he said.
He added that two states from each of the six geopolitical zones of the federation will be involved in the field testing which will take place simultaneously on Saturday, 7th March 2015.
“The states selected for the exercise are Ekiti and Lagos, (South West); Anambra and Ebonyi, (South East); Delta and Rivers, (South South); Kano and Kebbi, (North West); Bauchi and Taraba, (North East); Niger and Nasarawa, (North Central).
According to him, INEC would meet with state officials and representatives of political parties next week on the programmes so far.
“The commission will meet with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and political parties next week to brief on INEC’s readiness. The commission will meet accredited observers on the 19th to discuss the best practices for 2015 polls,” he further said.
KEHINDE ABDULSALAM
