Lawmakers vow to fight poll shift

Members of the National Assembly on Friday
kicked against the call by the National Security
Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), that the
February 14 general elections should be shifted to
give the Independent National Electoral
Commission time to distribute over 30 million
outstanding permanent voter cards.
The lawmakers said the postponement of the
elections would lead the country to constitutional
crisis.
The House of Representatives spokesperson, Mr.
Zakari Mohammed, said the House would not back
any proposal to shift the polls.
He said, “The call for postponement of the
elections is a decoy for third term agenda and as a
House of the Nigerian people, we will resist it.
“There is nowhere in the world where 100 per cent
of registered voters must vote in an election.
“It will be a breach of the constitution to postpone
the polls by whatever guise. This is a ploy and we
know where it is coming from.”
Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, also
said postponing the elections would not serve the
interest of the country.
Ogor said if insufficient PVCs was the major reason
Dasuki cited for the call for the postponement of
the elections, INEC should admit those with
temporary voter cards to vote in line with a
resolution recently passed by the House.
He said, “INEC should speak up and tell us the way
forward instead of keeping Nigerians in suspense.
“Let voters use TVCs and PVCs in line with the
position already taken by the House. No eligible
voter should be disenfranchised.”
The House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
also described the call for postponement of the
polls as a trap for third term agenda.
Gbajabiamila had moved the motion asking INEC to
allow the use of TVCs since it was apparent that
many voters might not get the PVCs before
February 14.
He said shifting the polls was a ploy for third term
agenda which he warned would be resisted by
Nigerians.
“The NSA has no role to play in the distribution of
PVCs,” Gbajabiamila said.
The same sentiments were shared in the Senate,
where senators asked INEC to go ahead with the
poll.
The Senator representing Oyo South, Olufemi
Lanlehin, said non-distribution of the outstanding
PVCs was not enough reason to call for the
elections postponement.
He said, “It is true that INEC has not performed up
to the task concerning PVCs distribution. The
situation affects all and sundry; it affects political
parties and every geo-political zone. So, it is not
as if it is only one particular region or group that
is affected.
“The election should not be postponed for
whatever reason. Since the issuance of PVC affects
region, the result of the election will not affect any
part of the country adversely than others. No part
of the country would have advantage above
another. So, the call for the postponement is
unacceptable based on the reasons given.”
Similarly, the Senator representing Plateau South,
Victor Lar, said the elections should be conducted
because the number of registered voters is
substantial.
He said, “The issue of elections is a constitutional
provision. The constitution has clearly stipulated
that at least not more than 90 days to the
expiration of the tenure. So, the February 14
elections should be conducted.
“We must also realise that the issue of security is
a serious matter. The number of registered voters
is substantial. It is for the National Assembly to
decide either to suspend the elections or not.”
Also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology
and Environment, Dr. Bukola Saraki, asked
Nigerians to reject attempts to postpone the polls.
Saraki, who spoke at a campaign rally in Fufu, the
headquarters of Ilorin South Local Government
Area of Kwara State, asked lovers of democracy to
prevail on the Federal Government that the
elections were held as scheduled.
In the same vein, the Conference of Nigerian
Political Parties has stated that the reason
adduced by the NSA to call for the elections
postponement was puerile and dummy meant to
deceive the international community as well as
portray Nigeria in bad light.
In a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Osita
Okechukwu, the CNPP said over 60 per cent PVCs
had been collected nationwide by anxious
Nigerians yearning to participate in the February 14
polls.
The statement read, “CNPP is worried that NSA has
joined some anti-democrats to plant land mines to
scuttle our Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.
“Dasuki’s statement clearly exposed his gross
incompetence in his primary mandate to secure
the country; hence the Boko Haram insurgents
escalated since his appointment on 22nd June,
2012.”
The Buhari Support Organisation also agreed that
the consequence of the postponement of the polls
could be disastrous.
The group said in Abuja on Friday that the shift
would be tantamount to rigging.
The Head, (Media, Information Management and
ICT) in BSO, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, who spoke at a
press briefing entitled: “February 14: A date with
History”, appealed to the international community
to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to abide
with the Abuja Accord sponsored by two world
reputable men of peace: former United Nations
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan and former
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr. Emeka
Anyaoku.
He said, “It is expected that the NSA should be
conversant with the security implications of his call
that the elections should be postponed.
“We condemn such provocative and crisis-prone
statement from such a top government official.”
However, INEC on Friday foreclosed shifting the
polls.
The electoral body said February 14 remains a
valid date for the presidential election irrespective
of the challenges confronting it.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said at a
workshop on “Mitigation of violence in election” in
Abuja that at no time had the commission sat
down to review the date of the election in spite of
the challenges confronting the PVCs distribution.
He recalled that the commission released the
timetable for the poll about a year ago and has
been vigorously working to abide by the date.
Responding to the NSA’s call for the
postponement of the elections, Jega said, “I don’t
want to comment on this. Like everybody we read
it in the papers.
“In any case whatever I communicate is the INEC’s
position and the commission has not discussed
this matter and taken a position on it.”
Jega reiterated the INEC’s position that the
elections would be conducted with only the PVCs
which he said had been tested and proved to be
valid.
He added that the PVCs would be distributed till
February 13.
“Therefore, anyone calling for the use of the
temporary voter cards in the February elections is
only drawing us back,” he said.
Jega, however identified the Federal Capital
Territory, Edo, Rivers, Bauchi, Plateau and Imo
states as places prone to violence on the ground of
the outcome of the primaries conducted in the
state.