Group Of Political Parties Demand That Jega Be Sacked

In line with the recent postponement of the 2015 general elections, twelve political parties on Tuesday have called for the removal Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from office before the new date fixed for the general elections next month.

Their positions were jointly signed by their national chairmen and their presidential candidates respectively.

These political parties under the umbrella of Coalition of Progressive Political Parties (COP3) include: Kowa Party (KOWA), Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), African Peoples Alliance (APA), Mega Progressive People’s Party (MPPP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), United Progressive Party (UPP), Accord Party (AP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).

Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, the national Chairman of PDM and mouthpiece of the body said they heard about the plans to remove the INEC Chairman and will not consider it as a rumour.

He said “The composition of the current INEC leadership must not be undermined or tampered with as this will constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine the election itself and influence its outcome”.

Ibrahim further expressed disappointment in the nation’s electoral body for shifting the polls till March and April, despite the fact that Nigerians rejected the idea when it was first mentioned by retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser to President Jonathan in the UK some weeks back.

The PDM chairman recalled that Dasuki had given two separate reasons as to why the distribution and collection of PVCs were low and feared that eligible voters may not perform their civic right.

He noted that: “This time around, the NSA disingenuously offered a different reason totally unrelated to the first. ‘New developments’ related to the insurgency raging in the North East and the inability of the armed forces to provide security for the election arising there from. The NSA, then, on behalf of the Service Chiefs, asked INEC to ‘reschedule’ the elections for at least the next six weeks in the first instance, to enable the armed forces secure the areas affected by the insurgency for the elections to hold.”