The heat turned on the service chiefs yesterday for professing their inability to guarantee security during the elections originally scheduled for February 14 and 28.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced last night that the presidential/National Assembly polls will now take place on March 28 and the Governorship/State Assembly elections on April 11.
Civil Society groups declared yesterday that the military officers and the Inspector General of Police are no longer deserving of their posts after writing to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that they would be unable to make their men available for any election until after at least six weeks from now.
The action of the military/police officers forced the postponement.
The shift falls into Presidency’s plans to delay the elections after failing to get the support of the Council of State for the plan.
An earlier plot to use National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki to convince INEC to move the elections forward for security reasons had also failed, drawing severe criticism from home and abroad.
The presidency now blames the NSA for bungling his role in the plot and exposing it to ridicule.
INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega, federal commissioners of the organisation and the Resident Electoral Commissioners were locked in marathon sessions all through yesterday to review the situation.
They met separately with 25 civil society groups and 28 political parties of which 16 supported the postponement.
Twenty one of the Resident Electoral Commissioners were said to have objected to the election postponement.
A participant at Jega’s meeting with the civil society groups, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, said the INEC chairman told the meeting that security operatives from all the agencies warned the commission that they were commencing a six week special operation against Boko Haram insurgents in the Northeast soon and would not entertain any distraction, be it election or any other non-military issue.
Another group at the meeting, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) said of proceedings: “At the meeting, INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, confirmed that he had received a letter from the security services advising that he postpones the general elections on the grounds that the security agencies were engaged in a renewed battle against insurgency in the North-East that would require their full concentration. In the letter the Military was demanding a rescheduling of elections by at least six weeks in the first instance.
“Situation Room conveyed to INEC its disappointment with the letter from the security agencies pointing out that this amounted to the Military’s abdication of its constitutional duties to provide security to citizens and to the Commission to enable it conduct elections and appeared contrived to truncate the democratic process in Nigeria.
“Situation Room is further worried that the Military’s position also aims to blackmail and arm-twist the Election Management Body away from its constitutional guaranteed function of conducting elections. Situation Room also condemns this advisory by security agents that they cannot guarantee the security of citizens, election officials and materials during the election.”
The Situation Room called for the resignation of the military chiefs and security heads including the Police “on account of their inability to exercise their constitutional responsibility to secure lives and property at all times including during the elections.”
It asked Nigerians to be vigilant and be ready to protect this hard won democracy!
The Situation Room comprises Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria and includes such groups as Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Enough is Enough Nigeria, Wangonet, Partners for Electoral Reform and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA). Others are Development Dynamics, Human Rights Monitor, Election Monitor, Reclaim Naija, Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, CITAD, CISLAC and several other CSOs.
The withdrawal of the military/police from the February polls automatically renders INEC’s hitherto insistence to go ahead with the elections a risky venture because to even collect ballot papers from their storage in the Central Bank of Nigeria for the elections will require security escort, which apparently is now unavailable in the light of the move by the security forces.
On the INEC meeting with the political parties, it was gathered that the commission decided to have them vote for or against shifting the polls.
The outcome of the voting was 16 in favour of poll shift, nine against while two abstained.
Those for were AA, PPN, ADC, PPA, CPP, DPP, LP, MP, NCP, NNPP, UDP, UPN, PPA, PDP, ACPN, PDC
Those against included Accord, APA, APC, Hope, ID, KOWA, SDP, PDM, and UPP.
APGA and another party abstained from voting.
Sources said Jega briefed them on his appearance at the Council of State meeting and the challenge at hand.
He said that 96% of the Permanent Voter Cards have been produced and 34% yet to be collected.
He also explained how he got a February 4, 2015 letter from NSA Dasuki in which he claimed that some parts of the country were unsafe for the conduct of the elections.
After the short address, Jega made available to each party a copy of his presentation to the Council of State.
It was the presentation that set the tone for input from all the political parties.
A source at the session said: “For about 15 minutes, leaders of the political parties went through the presentation after which the floor was thrown open for contribution.
“Jega raised two questions to be addressed by the parties: (1) In view of this development, should INEC proceed with the general election? If we should, what alternative do we have? (2) Do we take the NSA advice and shift the poll?”
It was gathered that unsuspectingly, INEC management had covertly designed a poll taking or voting device on the contribution from parties.
“As we were making input, the electoral body turned it into a voting for or against session.
“A desk officer was immediately assigned the job of taking note of the voting process.”
Another source said: “First to take the floor was the Deputy National Chairman of Accord Party, Barrister Sikiru Oke, who said the production and distribution of 96% of PVCs were above pass mark.
Oke said: “On the issue of insurgency in some local government areas in the Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Gombe, this should not be used as an excuse to hold the nation into ransom.
“PDP and APC have campaigned in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe and there had never been attack on them. I think the security situation is not as bad as they are parading. All they need to do is to send more troops and security agents to areas under threats.”
The APGA representative said as a lowly-placed officer, he cannot take a decision on behalf of the party. He decided to abstain.
In what appeared a pre-determined agenda, leaders of PDP(represented by the Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus), Labour Party, NCP and 13 others hammered on poor distribution of PVCs and security challenges to defend the NSA’s demand for the poll shift.
Another source, however, said: “Expectedly, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was in his best element when he spoke for about 20 minutes instead of the allotted five minutes per speaker.
“He was combative and warned that it will “not be in the interest of this country. I hope INEC will not allow itself to be used.”
Responding to a question, the source said: “At the end of the session, Jega announced that he would consult with other stakeholders and Resident Electoral Commissioners(RECs) and make a formal announcement.
“We were all surprised that he decided to skip the appropriate days or weeks for the poll shift.”
The postponement has provoked criticism of the military.
A concerned Nigerian, reacting to the development last night, said: “a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Salihu Ibrahim, once said we had a military of anything goes. What do we call our security of today? A security of anything goes?
“Imagine what they told Jega: that they are unavailable from February14; that they will be busy in the Northeast fighting Boko Haram. It is really sad the level our security has sunk.”
Already, the blame game has commenced at the presidency over what officials term mishandling of the plot to shift this month’s crucial elections.
The scapegoat is National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki who is accused of bungling his role in the plot.
The NSA, according to Presidency sources, had been assigned the responsibility of getting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to defer the elections ,using insecurity in the Northeast as an excuse.
This was to be done with tack and in such a way that it would be difficult for the public to link the presidency to the plan.
Dasuki soon swung into action, meeting INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega in Abuja.He told Jega of security challenges in parts of the country and asked for the postponement of the polls accordingly.
A shocked Jega was said to have replied that he could not tell Nigerians that the polls would be shifted and that since he does not run a one-man show at the commission he would like the NSA to personally talk to his colleagues—the Federal Electoral Commissioners.
Dasuki, it was gathered, bought into this suggestion and a date was fixed for a meeting with Jega and the Electoral Commissioners.
“At the meeting the NSA repeated what he had told the INEC boss about security challenges,” one of the presidency sources told The Nation yesterday.
“After Jega’s briefing, the commissioners mandated Jega to speak on their behalf whereupon he told the NSA that their job in INEC was to conduct elections and that he (Jega) could not speak on security or tell Nigerians that the polls would be shifted because of security.
“He said Nigerians would ask if he was now in charge of security. He advised the NSA to tell Nigerians himself why the elections must be shifted for security reason.”
No consensus was reached by the two sides at the meeting.
Sources said that immediately after the meeting, Dasuki left the country for London where he addressed the UK think-tank Chatham House on January 22.
It was from his lecture entitled, “Nigeria’s Insecurity: Insurgency, Corruption, Elections and the Management of Multiple Threats,” that Nigerians and the international community began to sniff the plot to tamper with the election time table.
Agency reports quoted Dasuki as saying during the question and answer session that he (Dasuki) had suggested to Jega, that a postponement by three months is allowed by the law and that it would be a good idea if the elections could be delayed to give INEC more time to distribute millions of biometric voters’ cards to voters.
Dasuki added that Jega had assured him that “It would achieve this in time for the February date, but he thought it will make more sense to take more time and there was a 90-day window during which the election could legally take place. It costs you (INEC) nothing; it’s still within the law.”
He said: “Anxiety over the peaceful conduct of the 2015 general elections has continued to grow both at home and abroad, fuelled by the memories of the post-election violence that occurred after the 2011 elections. Boko Haram members who have repeatedly expressed their disdain for the democratic process have also escalated their campaign over this period, further adding to the sense of instability.
“In a country of 170 million people elections have not been without their challenges, most especially pre and post-election violence, allegations of rigging, delayed delivery of ballot boxes, names left off ballot papers, desperation of some politicians to win at all costs are some examples. Experience, most especially after the 2011 general elections has shown that some of the most serious challenges to election security could emerge spontaneously or due to perceptions, of irregularities during the voting process, which then reflected in what some people concluded were unfavourable election results.
“Other challenges that we anticipate include the ability of INEC and the state to protect sensitive election related material as well as the provision of adequate security for electoral officers. This will help to ensure the integrity of the process.”
At home,Jega and his officials were angry as the statement implied that INEC was incompetent and had bungled preparations for the polls.
They told reporters who bombarded them with questions about their preparation for the polls that they were ready.
Presidency sources said that the real reason the authorities are pressing for the postponement of the polls has little to do with insecurity but largely because of unfavourable results of their privately commissioned polls which showed the President Goodluck Jonathan and his party (PDP) trailing badly.
“They couldn’t come out openly to admit that. They then asked Dasuki to go and make the case for a shift based on security reasons. Unfortunately the NSA handled it badly,” one source said.
“When it became obvious to the Presidency that INEC would not play along, they decided to take the case to the National Council of State which rejected any shift in the election dates of February 14 and 28.
“The Villa is very angry with Dasuki over the fiasco. They can’t understand how the NSA couldn’t get Jega to back off on security grounds.
“The hope is that a shift will give Jonathan more time to mobilize, and attack Buhari more. They also hope postponement would drain APC resources.”
