TheCable

Doyin Okupe, senior special assistant to the president on public affairs, says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs to be given more time to conduct the general election.

At a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, Okupe denied the report in some sections of the media that the federal government was scheming to postpone the election.

He quoted Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC, as saying that certain areas crucial to the conduct of a free, fair and credible electoral process, were still “works in progress”.

“The consideration behind the possibility of change of date is to allow those who may be disfranchised from voting on February 14 to have an opportunity to exercise their lawful rights to vote and participate in the general elections,” he said.

“The president, like many governors and citizens of Nigeria, is concerned about the state of preparedness of INEC for the 2015 elections.

“The security situation and the danger that the current war against insurgency in some parts of the country may impose on the conduct of elections in the affected areas. The impact of the situation above may affect the overall credibility of the 2015 elections.”

Okupe alleged that the outcome of Thursday’s council of state meeting was being misrepresented, adding that INEC was not asked to go ahead with the election but consult further and communicate their decision to the people on whether February 14 and 28 were suitable for the election.

“I wish to state categorically here that at no time during the entire seven-hour meeting did the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, insist that the elections must hold on the Feb 14 and 28, 2015 as published by some electronic/print media,” he said.

“Rather, Professor Jega gave the council a report on the progress so far made by the INEC on its preparedness for the 2015 elections. In all its submissions, the only process that was 100 percent concluded was the preparation and availability of the voters register.

“The chairman also mentioned clearly that given a little more time, INEC would be in a better position to perfect these processes and its readiness for the 2015 elections.

“In his presentations to the council, the INEC chairman stated clearly that for the electoral process to be free, fair, and credible, there are other matters that were not under the control of INEC, principal among which is the issue of provision and guarantee of security of lives and property.

“The security chiefs were unanimous in their advice to the council that it will be impossible for now for them to guarantee security of electoral materials, INEC staff, and the voting population in the areas currently engulfed by the war against insurgency.

“The president made it clear that he cannot in good conscience endorse an electoral arrangement where people from a section of the country would be excluded from the electoral process due to no fault of theirs or by virtue of just being unfortunate residents of an area under siege of terrorism.

“According to Mr President, this situation will tend to confirm the deliberate falsehood already being propagated in some parts of the country that he was encouraging the war in the north-east to ensure that voters in the APC states of the north-east were not allowed to vote in the 2015 elections.”