Jega Refuses To Guarantee Elections Date, Says Service Chiefs Know Better

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday declined to make an assertive declaration that the 2015 general election scheduled for March 8 and April 11 won’t be postponed again.

The INEC boss, who appeared before the Senate to explain why the elections initially slated for February 14 and 28 were postponed as well as the level of preparedness of the commission for the use of card readers during the elections, said the security forces would be in a better position to answer the question on whether the elections would hold as re-scheduled or not.

“I don’t see how anybody will contemplate any extension beyond these six weeks. There is no constitutional grounds upon which you can do that.

“It will only have to be unconstitutional. I don’t see how anybody will contemplate any unconstitutional means. For us, we work by the constitution, by the law and as far as we are concerned, that is what is guiding us and we should all put the interest of the nation at heart,” he said.

Jega also made a spirited defence against allegations that INEC had deliberately favoured a particular political party in the distribution of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs), notably in states such as Yobe, Borno and Adamawa that have suffered insurgent attacks.

He said INEC should not be blamed if voters turned out to collect their PVCs in large numbers in some states, while the electorate in some other states failed to collect theirs.

He reasoned that those states had a substantial level of collection because they promptly went to collect their cards while blaming states with low rates of collection on poor turn out by voters in such areas.

“Why should anyone blame me for that? There is need for us to have clarity on this matter. In Yobe, only two local governments are under emergency rule and the state was among the second phase in the distribution of the PVCs.

“In Yobe, along with about 11 other states, we distributed cards as far back as July 2014.

“So if the rate of collection has gone very high, I don’t see why that should be seen as a problem.  The same thing in Adamawa, only four local government areas are inaccessible and we devised a system where cards could be distributed in IDP centres.

“So as many as who had been displaced but who had registered have been able to collect their cards. But when you look at the way newspapers do their analysis, they tend to project it as if there is regional slant in the distribution of the cards.

“When we designed the distribution of cards, we did it in such a manner that we took two states each from each geopolitical zone to distribute in phases and we did it in three phases just to avoid being accused of this regional slant in the distribution of PVCs.

"It will be wrong to assume that Yobe or any other state has a higher rate of collection. If people came out to collect and other people did not why should we be blamed for that?” he queried.

 He insisted that although the postponement of the elections had been a blessing to the commission because it provided it with the opportunity to prepare better for the elections, he said the postponement was done in compliance with the message from the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), on behalf of the service chiefs, a seeking postponement of the elections.

He also said INEC was prepared to deploy card readers for the conduct of the elections, saying their deployment was in compliance with provisions of both the 1999 Constitution as well as the Electoral Act.

He also said no court would be able to stop their usage because the use of card readers does not violate any legal procedure.

He disclosed further that the card readers will be used only for accreditation and not voting, explaining that the time of usage has been programmed between 8 am and 1 pm on election days.

He noted that any voter who does not arrive within the timeframe would not be accredited. He also said where any CR does not work, it will be replaced and the overall voting time extended and where replacement is not possible within the timeframe, election in such a polling station will be rescheduled.
While the card readers were manufactured in China, he said they had been tested in Texas, the United States, where their functionality and durability had been ascertained.

According to him, 13 specific tests which dwelt on functionality, durability and versatility of the card readers were carried out and all were successful.

He added: “We have done some few tests and the result we have is about 90 per cent successful. We feel comfortable that the card readers can be used and will add value to the electoral process. They cannot be perfect; they may not be able to read every finger and that is where we agree with political parties.

“We bought 182,000 card readers. Some of them did not work, that is what we termed dead on arrival.

“Of the total number of card readers that we ordered and configured, only 503 have failed to work. That is 0.03 percent of the total. The agreement is that if a card reader fails during accreditation, then we will try and repair it within the time of accreditation which is between 8 am and 1 pm.

“If a card reader fails around 10 am, before 1 pm, we will see everything possible to replace it but if we are unable to do so, the time lost will be added to the accreditation period and extended.”

After his explanation, the card readers were tested using some senators’ PVCs, and the lawmakers expressed satisfaction with their level of effectiveness.
Jega subsequently assured the legislators that the commission would organise mock tests of the card readers in each of the six geo-political zones of the country to ascertain their functionality ahead of the elections.

He also promised to orgainise additional training for ad hoc staff that will man the polling stations, especially those that will handle the card readers, adding that INEC’s electoral institute had already been mandated to handle the training with methodology and a budget provided for the purpose.

Jega explained that stolen or cloned PVCs will be rejected by the card readers, adding that they will add value to the system because the readers will verify personal details of each voter, send short messages to the server on the information obtained and will also be useful for demographic studies after the election.

Senate President, David Mark, after the presentation, expressed confidence in INEC’s ability to conduct credible elections, even as he encouraged the commission to always seek the Senate’s assistance whenever it is necessary.

Meanwhile, legislators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives used their numerical strength to oppose a motion sponsored by their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts on the need to invite Jega to appear before it to clarify the commission’s readiness to conduct the rescheduled election dates.

The motion moved by the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) urging the House to debate the need to invite INEC boss to brief it was rejected with a resounding nay mainly from members of the APC.

Initially, Ogor had reminded his colleagues that as a lawmaking body, it was the House’s responsibility to invite INEC to intimate them on the commission’s level of preparedness before the elections.

But the House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Lagos) reasoned differently, suggesting that instead of inviting Jega, the nation’s service chiefs should be summoned to explain the role of the military in the postponement of election as reasons adduced by INEC for the shift in dates pointed directly at them.

“Mr. Speaker, if what the INEC chairman said that the military actually asked him to postpone the election is anything to go by, then it becomes incumbent on this House to ask questions as to whether the military has any role in our electoral process.

“So on the strength of that I would urge this House to invite the service chiefs to find out why they would demand the postponement and to tell us where the constitution empowered them to play a role in the electoral process,” Gbajabiamila said.

His proposal was scheduled for debate today.

According to him, he could only give assurance on issues under his jurisdiction, submitting that the provision of security for the elections was not INEC’s responsibility and hence giving assurance to the public on issues that are not under his control was a futile effort.

“Senator Akume asked if I can confirm the sanctity of the dates of the elections: March 28 and April 11. I think it is a very difficult question to answer.
“I have said consistently that there are things under the control of an electoral commission and there are things that are not under the control of an electoral
commission.

“For the things that are under our control, we can give definite and categorical assurances. What is not under our control, it is futile, it is fruitless, it is useless to give a definite guarantee on them. So frankly, I think that question should be directed appropriately,” he said.

This response was in contrast with the submission he made earlier when he answered a similar question.

When he was asked if he would not succumb to further pressure from the military to postpone the elections a second time, Jega had told the Senate that there could be no further postponement because doing so would violate constitutional provisions.

He also said that the military should not be portrayed as a body of unpatriotic Nigerians, who would unduly seek postponements even when it runs foul of constitutional provisions.

“The questions of security, I will leave it. I don’t think I am competent to answer it sufficiently but I must say that every Nigerian knows that we want elections to hold within the constitutional timeframe.

“We should be fair also to the military. Soldiers are also patriotic Nigerians. Let us give them the benefit of the doubt.