The Nation Newspaper

Tag: INEC chair

  • PDP insists on removal of INEC chair

    PDP insists on removal of INEC chair

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday insisted on the immediate removal of the newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari.

    The party said information at its disposal confirmed that Mrs. Zakari enjoys “a strong relationship” with President Muhammadu Buhari and an unnamed APC Governor in the Northwest.

    National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, alleged in a statement that the unnamed governor was collaborating with APC to ensure that INEC, under Zakari, posts Resident Electoral Commissioners of its choice to Kogi and Bayelsa states ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections in the two states

    The party also alleged that there were moves to use the period of Mrs. Zakari’s stay as head of the Commission to tinker with electoral personnel and materials for the two states in favour of the ruling APC.

    “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs. Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach himself from the operation of the electoral body, thereby completely eroding the independence of the Commission”, Metuh said.

    He said that Zakari’s competence and performance in office were not the issue, but “her closeness to the President and some key APC leaders” smacked of nepotism and called to question the independence of the electoral body under her watch.

    According to him, “We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has been stripped of its independence and can no longer command the confidence and respect of the citizens and all other critical stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.

    “We however find it astonishing, discouraging and disheartening that the spokesperson of the President will address Nigerians and lie to the entire citizenry that Mrs. Zakari never had any relationship with the President or an APC Governor in the Northwest. This is the height of deception coming from the respected office of the President of our dear country.

    “We ask: is the spokesperson of the President, oblivious of the public fact that the Acting Chairman of INEC was once a staff of Afri-Project Consortium, a company well associated with the President?

    “Is he, by any means, feigning ignorance of the fact that Mrs. Zakari also worked in the past as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Social Development and later, that of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Federal Capital Development Authority, then under a current APC governor of the Northwest?

    “How much of Mrs. Zakari’s roles in the last general elections does the spokesperson of the President, who has just been appointed, know to warrant his brazen defence?

    “Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as the INEC Chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in doing so he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the position? Otherwise he can as well appoint his wife or brother as the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.”

     

     

     

  • Every validly registered voter will  get PVC — INEC Chair

    Every validly registered voter will  get PVC — INEC Chair

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says  it will spare no effort to ensure that every validly registered voter gets  his  Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to be able to vote  next year.

    The commission,according to its Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has reached a comfort level to boldly say that the 2015 elections   will be free, fair, credible and transparent, and will be of far higher standard than what was achieved in 2011.

    Prof.Jega spoke on Thursday when he played host at the commission’s head office to Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West and Central Africa, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas.

    Professor Jega said the challenges experienced during the third phase of the PVC distribution and Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in some states were transient and will,in no way, threaten the commission’s readiness to deliver superlative elections in 2015.

    His words: “Since the 2011 elections, the commission has devoted a lot of time and energy to keep on improving the processes and setting up policies and mechanisms that can help us have remarkably better elections in 2015. We’ve done quite a lot.

    “Of course, there are challenges; and we have to acknowledge these challenges. One of the key things we have done is that we have updated the register, we have cleaned it up and we have been working very hard to produce and distribute what the law says we should – Permanent Voter Cards.

     “We have gone very far with this. So far, we have produced PVCs and distributed them in 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and we have also done an update of the register in those states.

    “The last phase of the distribution of PVCs and updating the register was to cover the remaining 12 states. I must say with regret that we experienced some challenges in the production of those cards within our defined time schedules, and this has necessitated adjustment of the timeline for distribution of the cards. “

    He pledged that before the February elections, “every validly registered Nigerian will have his / her PVC s to be able to exercise their voting right. And we are doing everything possible to ensure that happens.”

    On the readiness of the INEC to deliver superlative elections, Professor Jega said: “We have reached a comfort level to say categorically that we will deliver credible, free, fair and transparent elections in 2015 that will be much better than what we did in 2011.

    “Our hope is that in those areas where there are security challenges, the challenges will be minimised and sufficient normalcy and stability restored for us to be able to conduct elections; so that at the end of it all, we will be satisfied as Nigerians that we’ve conducted the best elections in the history of our country.”

    The visiting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General stressed Nigeria’s place as a strategic member of the global community. He said the country “must set the standard for others to follow because Nigeria has a special place in West Africa and, indeed, Africa.”

    Dr. Chambas, who is also a former President of ECOWAS, added: “2015 will be a year in which we will witness some very significant elections in West Africa. In addition to Nigeria, we have elections in Togo, Cote d’ivoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso. These are all countries that, within the ECOWAS context, are very significant. Some of them, for example, Cote d’ivoire, Guinea and even now Burkina Faso, will be conducting election post-conflict. So, we expect to face some challenges there. It is in that context that we hope that Nigerian elections will be standard setting.”

  • Commonwealth names INEC chair to observer mission

    Commonwealth names INEC chair to observer mission

    The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has been named by the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma, to the multilateral body’s observer mission to today’s presidential election in Maldives.

    Maldives is an island country located in the Indian Ocean.

    The 17-member observer mission, which is being led by former Prime Minister of Malta, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, arrived in the island country on Saturday, August 31, and will depart on Saturday, September 14.

    The observer mission is mandated to independently measure the Maldives election against the International Declaration of Principles, make suggestions on how to strengthen the electoral framework and submit a report on the election to both the Commonwealth and the Maldives.

    The mission is further mandated to consider all aspects of the electoral process in the Maldives and assess their compliance with agreed standards for fair polling.

    The Maldives assignment indexes the growing regard of the world community for Nigerian electoral management.