The Nation Newspaper

Tag: TMG

  • TMG, NDI advocate Card Reader’s use for other polls

    TWO election observer groups, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), have advocated the use of the Card Reader introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the April 11 elections and subsequent elections.

    The two bodies spoke with reporters yesterday in Abuja on their findings on the presidential and National Assembly elections held at the weekend.

    TMG Chairman Ibrahim Zikirullahi, who urged INEC to improve on its usage in subsequent election, said its introduction was aimed at  enhancing the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring that only eligible voters cast ballots on the election day.

    “The introduction of the card reader was intended to help enhance the integrity of the electoral process by ensuring only eligible voters could cast ballots on Election Day.

    “However, in practice on the election day, the Card Readers slowed the process. This does not mean that INEC should abandon the use of the technology to enhance elections. But more effort is needed to develop appropriate and dependable solutions,” he said.

    He added that logistical issues also delayed the opening of polling units, making the processes of accreditation, voting and counting more challenging for polls’ officials and voters.

    Praising  INEC so far for its steadfastness during the elections and its continuing efforts to ensure integrity of the process, he urged the election body to be transparent and timely in the collation process.

    He added: “TMG commends the security agents for the largely professional conduct they exhibited throughout the polling days.

    “TMG also recognises the dedication of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, who served and continue to serve as polling officials despite the many challenges.

    “We commiserate with the families of the s officials killed by Boko Haram in Dukku LGA in Gombe. Above all, TMG commends Nigerians for their determination to exercise their right to vote and generally participating peacefully in the polling process.”

    The NDI, led by Ambassador Jonnie Carson, who also hailed the use of the card reader, however, wanted all the challenges it encountered to be tackled before the April 11.

    This, he said, would enhance citizens’ confidence and participation to mitigate violence during and after the next polls.

    Carson suggested that the high level of heightened security deployed during the polls be sustained so that the current electoral cycle can be sustained.

  • TMG rejects postponement of polls

    TMG rejects postponement of polls

    THE Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has rejected the call for postponement of next month’s general elections.

    The group, in a statement in Abuja, condemned  a statement credited to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) that the general elections be postponed.

    TMG’s Chairman Ibrahim Zikirullahi said if there was any compelling reason for the date of the polls to be shifted, the appropriate body to make that call would be INEC.

    “Our considered view is that if INEC is having any difficulties in pulling off the elections, it should be the body to come up and make that position known.

    “It is disingenuous for the NSA to be publicly second-guessing INEC,” TMG said

    It described the call as a ploy to pull the rug under the feet of INEC and create uncertainty around an electoral process that Nigerians and the international community had invested so heavily in.

    “TMG views this call by the NSA as an affront on the stability of the 2015 electoral process, and it stands condemned.

    “We also wonder why such a call is coming so close to the elections, when INEC itself has not come out to say it is unable to go ahead with the polls.

  • TMG warns Ijaw leader against overheating polity

    TMG warns Ijaw leader against overheating polity

    The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has cautioned elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark against overheating the polity.

    Its national chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said recent comments credited to Clark were in bad taste and capable of undermining the electoral process.

    The group said the Ijaw leader accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, of being biased against the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan. “As Nigeria’s foremost election observation and civic education

    coalition, TMG  feel duty bound to respond to these direct allegations, which in our estimation, seek to put the electoral umpire under undue pressure, while discrediting in advance a process Nigerians and international community have invested so much on and are eagerly looking forward to a fruitful outcome in February 14, 2015.

    “While we are not interested in joining any partisan political fray, it is disturbing to us that an ethnic leader of Chief Edwin Clark standing would make these flippant statements against the electoral umpire, knowing the very serious implication this kind of posturing would have on the political process and indeed the polity itself,” TMG said.

    The group said the same INEC and Prof. Jega, whose integrity Clark was attempting to call to question, supervised the 2011 electoral process, which brought the ruling party and the president to power.

    “At that time, INEC and Prof. Jega were neither biased nor partisan in the estimation of Chief Clark,” the group said.

    The TMG added: “We, therefore, wonder why Chief Clark would at this point decide to launch a campaign of calumny against Jega, whose reputation as an umpire that has refused to pander to any partisan consideration, is well-cemented at home and abroad.

    “ So, what new evidence does Chief Clark have to make these spurious allegations capable of causing problems in the polity?

    “TMG would like to remind Chief Clark that the decision on who emerges as president of Nigeria through the ballot box on February 14, 2015 rests squarely with the Nigerian electorates.

    “The role of INEC is to create the level playing-field, and firm up the logistics for the people to exercise their franchise.

    “We, therefore, advise the chief to be wary of his comments in this delicate national moment.

    “Nigeria is bigger than all partisan and sectional interests put together. The sooner Chief Clark and all those spitting fire and brimstone realise this, the better for the nation.”

  • ‘States’ pension laws ‘ll worsen poverty’

    The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has the pension laws being passed by outgoing state governors to provide for themselves and their families funds meant for other citizens of their states.

    The TMG, in a statement yesterday by its Chairman, Zikirrulahi Ibrahim, said it was worried that the laws would give legal imprimatur to what he called a greedy political elite bent on taking much more resources than is due to them from the nation’s commonwealth.

    The statement said: “Painfully, these laws are being passed without due regard for the nation’s vulnerable and unstable revenue profile, as well as the debilitating impacts these money grabs will have on the nation’s fragile economy.

    “Apart from Governor Godswill Akpabio’s offensive Pension Law, now being reviewed by the legislative institutions in Akwa Ibom State, other states, including Rivers, Edo, Kwara and Lagos, among others, have in place similar extortionate laws, which provide the leeway for former governors and their deputies to live extravagantly off the public for the rest of their lives.

    “The recent Akwa Ibom State ‘Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2014,’ which was hurriedly passed by the governor in cahoots with the House of Assembly, is the height of this disingenuous ploy by the Nigerian political elite to continue its mindless milking of the cow of state.

    “This law, an attempt to use the valid process of legislation to rubber-stamp an apparent assault on the commonwealth of the people, will not stand.”

    “The TMG considers these laws, especially the one in Akwa Ibom, which will see the governor while in retirement guzzle up to N100 million of state funds per year on medical expenses alone, among other mind-boggling allowances, as the very height of the insensitivity and the crass opportunism that have become the hallmarks of the Nigerian political elite since 1999.

    “TMG frowns at attempt to use the institutions of state to create the framework for ungodly and inconsiderate personal aggrandizement in the midst of so much poverty in the land.”

     

    “The push for benefits such as pension for life, the purchase of cars and acquisition of choice houses, all at public expense even when the beneficiaries are no longer public servants is symptomatic of a political elite hell bent on fleecing its people to the hilt.”

     

  • Ekiti, Osun residents urged to verify names on voter register

    Ekiti, Osun residents urged to verify names on voter register

    The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has urged eligible voters in Ekiti and Osun states to check if their names are on the voter register.

    It urged those who have just turned 18 to register for a voter card.

    The verification of names in the voter register begins today and will end next Wednesday.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday by its Chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Zikirullahi, TMG said: “As a critical component of the electoral process, the importance of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) cannot be overemphasised. A comprehensive, user-friendly and credible voter register is fundamental to the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections.

    “The Ekiti and Osun governorship elections have been scheduled to hold on June 21 and August 9. Majority of people in these states who are now qualified to register for a voter card should as a matter of urgent civic duty explore the current opportunity which will lapse on March 19 to cross-check and register their names.

    “The 2010 Electoral Act (as Amended) mandates the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to carry out CVR of all persons qualified to be registered voters. Preparatory to the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, INEC has, by this scheduled exercise, fulfilled that responsibility.

    “It now behooves on residents of both states to go out and exercise this important civic responsibility. Each potential applicant should go in person to a functional, active and existing registration centre with any of the following documents – birth or baptismal certificate, national passport, identity card or driver’s license, or any other document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the applicant. It is to be noted that failure to participate will deprive one from casting one’s vote during the June and August elections.”

    TMG hailed INEC for providing a simplified on-line means for intending voters to check their names on the commission’s website.

     

  • TMG to Jonathan: Probe Rivers shooting

    The Transition Monitoring Group on Monday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to order an immediate probe into the alleged killing of the innocent children as well as the shooting of Senator Magnus Abe during last Sunday’s rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    The TMG in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its Chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Zikirullahi described the incidence as shocking and barbaric.

    The group said it is sad to believe that the police who are assigned the constitutional role of safeguarding lives and property are now unleashing terror on those they are meant to protect.

    “The Sunday, 12th January shooting as perpetuated by the police was nothing but a total act of callousness and declaration of war on Rivers State and its people on grounds of their democratic expression, this is unacceptable and must be condemned, “the group said