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Tag: Jega

  • ‘No plan to sack Jega’

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Oyo State, Rufus Akeju, yesterday debunked the rumour that RECs were planning a vote-of-no-confidence in the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega.

    He spoke at the presentation of voter education materials in Braille to the executives of the Joint Association of People with disabilities at INEC office in Ibadan.

    Akeju said: “Allow me to seize this opportunity to debunk the rumour that RECs are poised to invoke a vote-of-no-confidence in the hardworking chairman of the commission.

    “This is a lie as we (RECs) still repose an implicit confidence in him and the innovations being implemented.

    “The voter education materials being presented today, include frequently asked questions on electoral process, voting procedure, voting offences and penalties, in Braille production.

    The representative of the Joint Association of People with disabilities, Olusola Obeyi, said the materials would   benefit visually-impaired people.

     

  • ‘Leave Jega alone’

    ‘Leave Jega alone’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has condemned the alleged plot to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, yesterday in Akure, said the alleged move to remove Jega gave an impression of attempts to undermine the credibility of the rescheduled general elections.

    He said: “We are aware of reports in the media of an alleged grand plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to frustrate the INEC chairman.

    “However, we state without equivocation that any attempt to sack or relieve Jega of his duties, under any guise, before the expiration of his tenure will be unacceptable to Nigerians and would be resisted by the people.

    “Prof. Jega started the electoral process in 2011 and he should be allowed to complete the process since he is not known to have committed any “sin” known to law.

    “Whether terminal or politically-motivated leave, if he is not allowed to do his job by  the PDP, it would mean that the party has concluded plans to sabotage the elections.”

  • Still on the plot to remove Jega

    SIR:  The clandestine plan to remove Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission is rife in spite of the denial by the Presidency. But why is this government full of guile? There is no doubt that the tenure of Jega ends on June 30 and the rescheduled general elections are less than four weeks now.

    Are they not inviting anarchy if Jega is illegally removed through the civil service rule? Can a retired civil servant be reappointed? No. But an INEC Chairman can.

    Also, whoever takes over may want more time to do the dagger-man’s job which they would want him to execute. However, any further change in the dates of elections will violate the constitution and the electoral law. Covert or overt action taken to tinker with the rescheduled dates is not only criminal but dangerous. The handwriting is conspicuous; the ruling party is fighting tooth and nail to retain power. Man’s greatest battle is the one he fights against himself. Jega’s INEC was the cherubic chum of the Presidency and PDP in Anambra, Ondo and Ekiti states’ gubernatorial elections; its electoral dish has now become stale. Jega has suddenly become a xenophobic umpire!

    It is now imperative for the President to banish the pseudo-political analysts to purgatory of psychosis. A man’s friends are innumerable when his hands are dripping with honey but they all disappear the moment such hands begin to bleed. Nigeria is greater than all of us and the selfish ambitions of the few among us.

    Today, what Chief Simeon O. Adebo said in July, 1969 summarizes our “modus vivendi”: “We live in troublous times. Look where you will, there is hardly a spot where there is stable peace, where there is not actual fighting there are grave tensions, where the tensions are not international they are local”.

    It is only President Goodluck Jonathan that can douse the looming conflagration by allowing Jega to complete the job he started four years ago shortly after the 2011 general elections. No political chicanery can change May 29, handover date.

     

    • Adelani Olawuyi

     Odooba – Ogbomoso,

    Oyo State

  • Jega : An electoral umpire’s burden

    When five years ago, President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to appoint Prof Attahiru Jega as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, he spoke glowingly about the activist academic. It was an appointment he kept close to his chest as the media kept speculating about who will get the job after the disastrous tenure of Prof Maurice Iwu. Having seen what happened under Iwu, who conducted the sham election which brought him and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to office, the president knew that he had to pick a man of integrity for the job.

    So, as he kept the public guessing  on who his choice would be, Jonathan did not allow any opportunity go by without making it known that his man for the job is someone that cannot be pushed around. ”I have found the man for the job; we have contacted him and he is ready to take up the job. He is a man of integrity and Nigerians will be happy with our choice when we announce his name”. The president was virtually over the moon when he picked Jega for the INEC job. He knew very well that to continue to endear himself to Nigerians whoever he picked as electoral umpire must be above board.

    Jonathan made a statement with his choice of Jega, who he knew as an uncompromising figure, yet chose him for the highly sensitive INEC job.  Jega is not just an academic, he is a unionist to boot, having been president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the late 80s. He led ASUU during the military regime and he gave a good account of himself.

    A man like him is no doubt needed to head INEC, which under Iwu had become an appendage of government. Since his coming, Jega has tried his utmost to maintain the independence of INEC, despite coming under blistering  attacks from the parties sometimes for being impartial. This is expected. There is no way Jega could have satisfied all the parties, especially when it comes to elections. There is no party that wishes to lose an election; every party wants to win and where it does not, the next thing is to cry foul.

    It is understandable when a party challenges the competence of the electoral umpire after an election. If that happens, it is likely the party is crying because it lost. But when before an election everything is being done to rubbish the electoral umpire, then something must be amiss. It becomes more worrisome when those badmouthing the electoral umpire are members of the ruling party. In the past few months, Jega has been the butt of destructive criticisms by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its chieftains and the problem they have with him is because he never agreed with them  that the February 14 and 28 elections as initially scheduled should be postponed.

    Although the party gave the impression that it was not bothered one way or the other with  what INEC decides to do about the elections,  latter events showed that the party, its national leader, that is the president, and its leading lights were all for the postponement of the elections, but getting Jega to do their bidding without being seen as the ones pulling the string was their problem. They eventually got the security chiefs to force Jega’s hands to shift the polls to March 28 and April 11. Despite having their way, they are still after Jega. They are not ready to let him be until they push him out of office.

    Why does PDP want Jega out of office? It is to ensure that it has its way at the polls.  His  integrity that counted in his favour when he was appointed in 2010 is now hanging around his neck as an albatross. The PDP can no longer stand the integrity of the man whose praise the president sang to high heavens when he was appointing him five years ago as INEC chairman. So, instead of getting set for the rescheduled elections, the party is busy fishing for reasons to get Jega out of the way to enable it rig its way back into power. So far, they have  not given any tangible reason why Jega should not conduct the forthcoming elections.

    Having succeeded in getting the elections postponed, one would have expected PDP to go back to the drawing board to plan and map out plans for the forthcoming elections. But no, it is not doing that; all it is after is to get Jega replaced by another professor, who it can manipulate to get its way at the polls. But removing Jega legally will not be easy. So, they will not take the legal route; they may give him the Lamido Sanusi treatment. Remember, the president went outside the enabling Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act to get Sanusi out of the way because he was too vocal for his liking. With Jega too independent-minded for his liking, Jonathan may devise a way of removing him without following the Constitution.

    According to Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any cause) or for misconduct. By virtue of this provision, the president cannot on his own remove Jega nor can he send him on terminal leave whimsically. But then, this is Nigeria where anything goes.

    The cards are stacked against those who want Jega out of INEC.  They do not have a case against him; they are just afraid that with him at the helm, they cannot get INEC to rig the elections for PDP. They said the elections should be postponed because millions of eligible voters had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    Now that a substantial number has collected PVCs, their song is that the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs), which have been exchanged for PVCs, should be used for the elections. Does this make sense? Does it not show that some people somewhere are afraid of contesting the elections? Jega conducted one of the best elections ever held in this country in 2011 and since then, INEC under his watch, has been improving with the series of staggered elections held in some states.

    Like every human being, Jega is not a saint. But, what sin has he committed to warrant the call for his removal by PDP chieftains and their cohorts. What do they know that we do not know that informed their call? Is it at this 11th hour that we should be talking of removing Jega or sending him on terminal leave when he is not sick nor involved in any misdemeanour? All these PDP chieftains are doing is to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. The president should not fall for their trick. It is heartening that the president has reassured the world that he won’t remove Jega.  But we hope that when push becomes shove, the president will not sing a different tune.

  • Anti-Jega plot crashes as Presidency hits dead end

    Anti-Jega plot crashes as Presidency hits dead end

    LEGAL experts have told the Presidency the bitter truth about Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega — he cannot be sent on terminal leave.

    There are two reasons for the legal opinion. They are that:

    •no law or regulation compels political appointees to proceed on terminal leave; and

    •the timing is “inauspicious and not strategic”.

    Faced with the legal obstacle, the Presidency may have dumped the option of asking Jega to go on leave.

    Besides, President Goodluck Jonathan has said although he has the power to remove Jega, the INEC chief has not done anything to warrant his removal.

    A top government official yesterday said Jega will not be removed or asked to go on leave.

    But the comment of the supervising Minister of Information, Mr. Edem Duke, has caused disquiet in the cabinet.

    Some ministers believe that Duke’s “inexplicit response to questions on Jega’s fate” last Friday has been heating up the polity.

    Duke said although the President has no plan to sack Jega, ‘’this is not to say that, if it is time for INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of public service rule will not take place when he has reached the age of retirement or exhausted his tenure.”

    According to a source, the legal advice emphatically said “political appointees are not subject to terminal leave”.

    The source added: “I think we have been having this apprehension on Jega’s fate because of the politics which beclouded non-renewal of the tenure of ex-INEC Chairman Prof. Maurice Iwu.

    “I think in managing Iwu’s exit, those behind it did not look at the legality of the process in asking him to proceed on leave.”

    The source also said the Presidency was advised against allowing Jega to go on terminal leave because the “timing of the agitation is inauspicious and non-strategic”.

    A top government official said: “President Goodluck Jonathan will not remove or ask Jega to proceed on terminal leave. He has told the nation of his position and he will stand by his words.”

    At INEC, however, a woman National Commissioner is still feeling bad that she was linked to the plot against Jega.

    “The National Commissioner has been psychologically disturbed that she is being associated with treachery.

    “Were it not for pressure, she would have addressed the press with some commissioners on why they are standing by Jega,” a source said.

    Duke’s comment is said to have caused disquiet in the cabinet.

    “Everyone is disturbed that Edem Duke was not circumspect enough because as a Minister of Information, he ought to know that the press will take note of what is said, intended or unsaid,” a source said, adding:

    “No one is happy that the story about Jega has been bordering on alleged plot to remove or ask him to go on terminal leave by the President. We believe as cabinet members, we should also not heat up the polity or create an image crisis for this administration. If you have noticed, the debate on Jega’s fate heightened after Duke’s briefing last Friday.

    “Not all members of the cabinet approved of Duke’s comments, which left a few things hanging.”

    Jega has shelved today’s meeting with the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC).

    Instead, the INEC chairman has deployed all National Commissioners and the 37 REC in 12 states for the mock election taking place on Saturday.

    The states selected 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); and Niger and Nasarawa(North-Central).

    The mock election will be used for “field testing of the functionality of the Smart Card Readers”.

    A National Commissioner said: “All National Commissioners and RECs are going to take part in the mock election which we are using to measure our preparation for the general election.

    “The session between INEC chairman and RECs  will now hold next week to enable the commission to consider the report on the mock election.”

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal said we cannot play the ostrich with the plot to scuttle the elections.“It is clear that some people are not interested in a free and fair election.”

    Tambuwal, who spoke when he received a delegation from the Situation Room Advocacy also condemned any move to install an interim government which he said will amount to a coup because it has no place in the constitution.

    Also yesterday, the House of Representatives  sounded a note of warning to President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on the danger of removing the INEC chairman before the general elections.

    To show its seriousness, the threatened to initiate court action within the country and at the International Criminal Court (ICC), over supposed plots to remove Jega and shift the March 28th and April 11th elections.

    The resolution of the House followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion by Hon. Ali Ahmad, Chairman House Committee on Justice,

    The “Motion on threat to further tamper with the status quo arrangements for the 2015 general elections” was seconded by Hon. Goni Bukar

    The House urged “the political class, government of the federation and of states and security agencies to heed the warning of imminent and present danger associated with any interference with the existing schedules of the general elections”.

    It said it will “hold personally accountable at domestic judicial forum or at the International Criminal Court “ any person or Organisation that foists on INEC any decision or action whatsoever, including unconstitutional attempt to remove the current INEC chairman, that has the effect of making it impracticable for the elections to hold on 28th March and 11th April, 2015”.

    Arguing the motion, Ahmad  said the initial postponement of the general elections for six weeks due to security concerns related to the Boko Haram insurgency has further heightened the tempo for pre-election violence.

    He expressed concern on the possibility, threat and insinuation to precipitate actions that would cause further alteration to the status quo arrangement and regulation of the general elections

    Ahmad said: “That such threats to tamper with the status quo may take several forms including , but not limited to, illegal removal of the current INEC Chairman.

    “That there is already documented evidence from several sources that any change in status quo arrangements, especially removal of the INEC chairman, presents a possibility of violence and would occasion the sowing of seeds of a major crisis,” he said.

    The lawmaker said civil society organisations and lawyers, including usually reticent Senior Advocates of Nigeria have sounded “a note of warning” and threatened a “showdown”.

    According to him, such removal will be unconstitutional, “given the decision of the Supreme Court that removal of the chairman or members of such an independent electoral body as INEC pursuant to S.157 (1) of the Constitution can only be achieved when two things happen, viz: (a) for his inability to discharge the functions of the office, or ( b) for misconduct, as determined by 2/3 majority of the Senate ( Governor of Kwara State v. Ojiabor. 2007).”

    Ahmad said such deliberately induced violence “ may snowball as it did in 2011 post-election period into widespread or systematic attack, persecution, arson, murder, thereby amounting to serious crimes of concern to the international community, as contained in Article 5 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Nigeria is a signatory.”

    However, the Deputy Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, objected to the motion, saying that it was “totally speculative” at best and should not even be entertained, not to mention being passed.

    His objection was overruled by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who  called for a voice vote. It was unanimously passed by members.

  • Why Jega can’t be sacked, by Falana

    Why Jega can’t be sacked, by Falana

    Before the simulated postponement of the general elections scheduled to hold on February 14 and 28, Chief Edwin Clark and some ethnic champions had called for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega.

    On account of the closeness of the group to the Presidency, not a few Nigerians believed that the Federal Government had decided to fire the INEC helmsman.

    In his last media chat, President Goodluck Jonathan dismissed the rumoured plan to sack Prof Jega. He, however, said that since he appointed the chairman and members of the INEC team, he could fire any of them at will.

    Since last week, it has been widely reported that Jega may be asked to proceed on terminal leave any moment from now. Having regard to the national embarrassment which greeted the removal of a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (as he then was) last year, the attention ofthe President ought to be drawn to the limit of his powers with respect to the removal of the INEC chairman.

    Pursuant to Section 155 of the Constitution, Prof Jega was appointed the INEC chairman by the President on June 24 , 2010, following the confirmation by the Senate. Section 155 of the Constitution provides that the INEC chairman shall occupy the office “for a period of five years from the date of his appointment”.

    Since the appointment is for five years, certainly the term of office cannot be abridged by a pre-retirement leave of three months.

    As the appointment enjoys constitutional

    flavor, Jega is not occupying the office at the pleasure of the President. In other words, the President lacks the power to hire and fire the INEC chairman. Under Section 157 of the Constitution Jega can only be removed from office during his term of office by the President on an address supported by two thirds majority of the members of the Senate. And the reason for the removal has to be based on evidence of his inability to perform or discharge the functions of the office due to infirmity of mind or body or misconduct. Since the Senate is not likely to endorse Jega’s sack, it has been reported that the Presidency is toying with the idea of sending him on terminal leave.

    Jega, who is a professor of political science at the Bayero University, Kano was granted leave of absence by his employer, the council of the institution, following his appointment as INEC chairman in June 2010.

    Since Jega is on secondment to the INEC, he cannot be treated like a civil servant. Those who have cited the provision of the civil service rules which requires public officers to proceed on a three-month pre-retirement leave have failed to realise that the circular has to be read subject to Section 154 of the Constitution which stipulates that the INEC Chairman shall hold office for “a period of five years from the date of his appointment”. In the circumstance, Jega’s appointment cannot be validly determined until June 23, 2015.

    In Independent National Electoral Commission v. Musa (2003) 10 WRN 1 at 125, the Supreme Court held that “The Civil Service Rules are not a legislation per se as provided by the Constitution, nor subsidiary legislation, as they are not made under any enabling Act or Law. These limitations are emphasised by Rule 01001 of the rules which provides in respect of some categories of public office holders that: ‘… these Rules apply only to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of

    Nigeria in so far as their conditions of service and any other law applicable to these offices are concerned.‘ “

    In view of the above categorical pronouncement of the Supreme Court, it is indubitably clear that the provision of the Civil Service Rules on three-month pre-retirement leave is inconsistent with Section 155 of the Constitution which provides that the INEC chairmen shall remain in office for “a period of not less than five years”.

    In the hierarchy of the superiority of laws the provisions of the Constitution take precedence over other laws or circulars. Indeed, section 1(3) thereof states that any law which is inconsistent with the Constitution is null andvoid to the extent of its inconsistency. To that extent, the provision of the Civil Service Rules on terminal leave is inapplicable to the tenured appointment of Jega. Even in the case of Mr. Sanusi, the Presidency claimed that he was not removed from office but placed on suspension to facilitate investigation. That was the explanation adduced for removing the CBN governor via suspension without going through the Senate. But with respect to Jega, the President lacks the power to investigate, suspend or send him on terminal leave.

    To confirm the autonomy of the INEC, Section 158 of the Constitution stipulates that in exercising its power to make appointments or to exercise disciplinary control over persons, the INEC “shall not be subject to the direction or control of any authority or person.”

    Some have cited the case of Prof Maurice Iwu, who was sent on leave prior to his removal by President Jonathan. Unlike Prof Iwu, who had retired from the university when he was the INEC chairman, Jega is still in the service of Bayero University. By the provisions of the Universities Miscellaneous Act, the retirement age of university professors is 70 years. Since Jega is 58 he would not retire from the public service until he attains the age of 70 in 2027. In the conditions of service of university staff, there is no provision for pre-retirement leave but sabbatical leave; leave of absence; annual leave; casual leave; vacation leave and maternity leave (for female lecturers). As a public officer cannot go on pre-retirement leave twice, it will be absurd to ask Jega to go on terminal leave as INEC chairman in 2015 and then as a retiring professor in 2027.

    As Jega is not a civil servant, the Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF) lacks the power to direct him to proceed on terminal leave. Indeed, the pre-retirement leave applicable in the civil service does not apply to a tenured appointment.

    In a circular dated August 11, 2010, titled “Clarification on Pre-retirement Leave”, the HoSF was reported to have said that “I am to further inform you that paragraph 1 of the circular clarified that the content of the circular is only applicable to core officers who run their civil service to thirty-five (35) years of service or sixty (60) years of age and not a definite tenure as is the case under reference.”

    In the light of the authoritative pronouncement of the HoSF on the matter, it will be preposterous and illegal to direct Jega to proceed on terminal leave in any manner whatsoever.

    In the light of the foregoing, if the President goes ahead to sack Jega, he would have confirmed that the government has contempt for the rule of law. The President owes himself a duty to resist the pressures to remove Jega from office on March 24. Changing the leadership of the INEC barely four days to the presidential election is likely to truncate the fragile democratic process. Having commended the INEC for conducting the 2010 general elections and the governorship elections in Edo, Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states, the President cannot find any justification for the planned removal of Jega.

     

     

     

  • Reps warn on alleged plots to remove Jega

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday warned President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration on the danger of removing the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, before the general election.

    Sequel to the adoption of a motion by Hon. Ali Ahmad, Chairman, House Committee on Justice, the House urged the political class, Federal Government and security agencies “to be wary of the imminent danger in the attempts to interfere with the electoral process.”

    The House said it will personally hold accountable at domestic judicial forum or at the International Criminal Court ” any person or organization that foists on INEC, any action whatsoever, including unconstitutional attempt to remove the commission chairman, that will make it impossible for elections to hold on March 28 and April 11 respectively.”

    While arguing the motion titled: “Motion on threat to further tamper with the status quo arrangements for the 2015 general elections,” Ahmad said the initial postponement of the general election for six weeks due to the security concerns has further heightened the tempo for pre- election violence.

     

  • Removing Jega now will be disastrous, says Ahmed

    Removing Jega now will be disastrous, says Ahmed

    Any attempt by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government to remove Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair, Prof Attahiru Jega as being speculated in some quarters will have a reverberating effect on Nigerian’s democracy, Kwara state Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said.

    He added that Jega’s ouster at this critical time will cast a serious doubt on the sincerity of President Jonathan’s plan to conduct credible, free and fair elections.

    The governor told reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, adding that the “consequence of replacing him is like changing the rules in the middle of the game which I think will negatively affect people’s perception to seriousness in ensuring a proper electoral process and ultimately good governance in Nigeria.”

    Alhaji Ahmed said: “We are aware that some stakeholders are not comfortable with Jega’s preparedness for elections. We have seen how attempts have been made in picking holes with the process which has been adjudged, I repeat, which had been adjudged to be better than the preparations we had in 2011.

    “We are all aware that first, the desire not to allow elections to go on as originally scheduled has sent some negative pictures to people’s minds with respect to preparedness and seriousness and sincerity hold this election.

    “However, with the unfolding events that we are seeing, we want to believe that not only is the federal government ready to carry on with this election, as put together in the new timetable.”

  • Leave Jega alone

    Leave Jega alone

    •Any plot to remove the INEC boss tempts danger and disruption for Nigeria

    The warning is potent and unequivocal. Some senators belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on February 26 cried out that the hierarchy of the ruling party under President Goodluck Jonathan planned within a week to oust Professor Attahiru Jega as the umpire of the postponed presidential and other polls.

    Whatever the merit of the alarm, we want to sound it loud and clear that all those who contemplate Jega’s ouster are not only cowards but weak-minded subverts of our law. They are courting disaster for this democracy, a system that now stands frail from ceaseless pounding of lawlessness from the bigwigs of the president’s party and their peevish cohorts.

    They mouth the rule of law in one breath, and in the other they act as dedicated gangsters who now see Nigeria as their fiefdoms of avarice and rapine.  The APC senators’ warnings may have been dismissed as partisan ranting, but they have not spoken out of a vacuum. Henchmen of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have not had flattering words for the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They have accused him of holding meetings he is not on record to have held. They have accused him of cohabiting with northern hegemonists without evidence. They have also tried to tar him with partisan prejudice by saying he meets with elements of the opposition APC, also without proof.

    The president has openly shown displeasure with Prof.  Jega over his disagreement with him over whether the postponed elections should have held. In the last presidential chat, he let everyone hear that he had the powers to remove Jega, although the media weighed in on words to the effect that he had no intention to eject the electoral umpire. The point though is that his intention is not material to the law. He has no powers of any arbitrary sort to remove Professor Jega as the arbiter of the polls now scheduled for March 28 and April 11, 2015.

    The APC senators, led by Senator George Akume, noted that the cynical strategy to remove Jega is the well-worn path of sending him on a terminal leave. They know that if they do that, they can settle on a pliant figure to conduct the polls and do their bidding in rigging the polls in their favour.

    Two fundamental things are wrong with this fiendish design. One, it is against the law. The president has no powers under the law to remove the INEC chief without the support of two-thirds majority in the senate. The president is probably aware of this, and that accounts for the alleged subterfuge of going through the route of an epistolary brigandage. They are alleged to be plotting to ask the head of service to write Prof. Jega to proceed on a terminal leave. The INEC chief has said his term of office does not end until late June this year. So why not ask the man to complete his duty to his fatherland? But because of fear of the outcome of the elections, some desperadoes in the inner sanctum of the president, with his apparent backing, have decided to ratchet up the tension in the country. As the APC leaders quoted from the memo of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation dated 11th August 2010, “I am to further inform you that paragraph 1 of the Circular clarified that the content of the Circular is only applicable to core officers who run the civil service to retirement at thirty-five (35) years of service or sixty years of age and not for a definite tenure as is the case under reference.”

    Prof. Jega is not a core officer of the civil service but he was appointed for definite tenure. He does not fall into the bracket of those who can be slammed with an indefinite leave prior to leaving office.

    Two, even if the INEC chief falls into that bracket, it reeks of indecency for the presidency to plot his ouster knowing full well that every right-thinking person will believe it is done out of spite and fear. It therefore lacks commonsense to contemplate Jega’s ouster under whatever guise.

    The Jonathan administration was unhappy with the press statement from the INEC chief when he attributed the election postponement to the failure of the service chiefs to guarantee security, especially in the northeast because of the rampaging presence of the Boko Haram sect. The service chiefs have come under vehement hammer over what many see as the undue militarisation and corruption of the top tier of the military. The same military has been accused of lack of spunk and discipline in mowing down the vicious sect in the northeast. Gains have been recorded in the past weeks, and much of it has been attributed to the skill and ferocity of the neighbouring countries, especially Chad Republic. The president, in ceremonial combat fatigue, visited the reclaimed territories while it is still not clear how much our military contributed to the good news.

    Yet, the same military is now being urged by Jonathan loyalists to conduct the polls, even though the Court of Appeal has said it is against the law, and only in emergencies can soldiers play a role in the civil society.

    We must draw the nation’s attention to a group that operates under the amorphous name Southern Nigerian People’s Assembly. Some of the members include former Federal Commissioner of Information Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a member of a Yoruba group called Afenifere, Femi Okurounmu and former information minister Walter Ofonagoro. This group that lacks wisdom or any discernible patriotic zeal has called for Jega’s ouster, and the nation should beware of them.

    The president cannot claim ignorance of the bombardment of advertorials in the media from his known loyalists calling for the replacement of Professor Jega. If the president cannot restrain them, it is because he is in sync with them. That is dangerous. The nation is fragile enough as it is, and we do not want the president to take the tension up by any notch.

    Optimists have asserted that Nigeria is familiar with crises of this sort and we, somehow, finagle our way into peace. That is ominous optimism. The first and second republics, the June 12 crisis, and other crises have never been resolved. We went through patchworks only to return to the sanguinary moment we experienced before. Bloodshed and systemic disjuncture often tore down the society. Even though Nigeria has managed to survive, it is not always a guarantee that the past survival will determine the next one. It could be the disaster next looming. That is why the best path is law and decency. Following a path of ousting Jega negates this spirit and tempts anarchy.

  • PDP queries APC’s ‘undue interest in Jega’s case’

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said yesterday that it was disturbed by what it called the “undue interest “ of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the alleged plot to sack the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, before the coming elections.

    The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, wondered in a statement why the APC has been so loud in its opposition to the Jega-must, go-campaign.

    Top members of the PDP including President Goodluck Jonathan’s political godfather, Chief Edwin Clark, and the President’s campaign organisation, have openly called for Jega’s sack, blaming him for the postponement of the elections from February to this month and the next.

    Metuh called APC’s insistence on Jega’s retention on the job until the expiration of his term as “curious” and “feverish fixation.”

    He accused the APC of fabricating stories about plot to remove Jega.

    He said:”Undoubtedly, the frenzy, hysteria and spate with which the APC has been inventing stories regarding Prof. Jega’s stay in office even when nothing suggests that such was on the table, raise a lot of issues.

    “We ask, is there any underlining issue or arrangement between APC and Prof. Jega which the opposition is hell-bent to protect, informing its anxiety and apprehension towards his stay in office?

    “While it is noted that the APC is a party of one week, one lie, we in the PDP look beneath the surfaces to the deeper issues propelling the lies. We therefore challenge the APC to come out clean and tell Nigerians the real reason behind their false alarms and uncontrolled nervousness regarding Prof. Jega ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    “Finally, we wish to remind the leadership of INEC that Nigerians are monitoring its activities and series of unfolding political events ahead of the elections, and will not accept anything less than the conduct of credible, free and fair general elections come March 28 and April 11, 2015”.

    The PDP is uncomfortable with Jega’s insistence on using the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and card readers during the elections, preferring instead the use of the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs).

    The PDP is also believed to have, through proxies, instituted no fewer than 14 court cases seeking the removal of the INEC chair and a ban on the use of the PVCs and card readers.