STATEMENT ON THE TIMETABLE FOR 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS BY THE CHAIRMAN,
INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), PROFESSOR ATTAHIRU
M. JEGA, AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON FEBRUARY 07th, 2015
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
We invited you here today to make known the position of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the timetable for
the 2015 general elections. Let me state from the outset that the
Commission's position was reached after carefully weighing the
suggestions from briefings held with different stakeholders in the
electoral process.
The conduct of elections in a country like Nigeria is invariably a
collective venture that involves not just the Election Management Body
(EMB), but also a diverse range of stakeholders, notably security
agencies, political parties and their candidates, voters, as well as
interest groups, such as the civil society organizations and the
media. To guarantee successful conduct of elections, there are things
that are wholly the responsibility of the EMB. But there are other
things critical for the success of elections, which fall outside the
control of the EMB.
In other words, while INEC must work hard to perfect its systems and
processes for conducting elections, and take responsibility for any
imperfections thereof, whatever the Commission does may not by itself
be sufficient to guarantee the success of elections. There are a
number of issues in the preparation and conduct of an election, the
most critical of which is security, which is not under the control of
INEC.
Current State of INEC's Preparedness
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, I was invited to brief the National
Council of State, which is the highest advisory to the President
comprising past and present leaders in Nigeria, on the level of
preparedness of INEC to conduct the 2015 general elections. I made a
presentation to the Council titled 'Preparations for the 2015 General
Elections: Progress Report,' in which I gave a detailed account of
what the Commission has been doing in readiness for the national
elections (National Assembly and Presidential) scheduled for February
14th, and the state elections (Governorship and State Assembly)
scheduled for February 28th, 2015.
The summary of my presentation to the National Council of State
meeting is that, for matters under its control, INEC is substantially
ready for the general elections as scheduled, despite discernible
challenges being encountered with some of its processes like the
collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by registered members of
the public.
In addition, INEC has been doing everything it can to facilitate the
collection of the PVCs by registered members of the public. As at 5th
February 2015, the total number of PVCs collected was 45, 829, 808,
representing 66.58% of the total number of registered voters.
In the delivery and deployment of electoral materials, INEC is also at
a comfort level in its readiness for the general elections as
scheduled (see the presentation to the Council of State). The
Commission's preparations are not yet perfect or fully accomplished.
But our level of preparedness, despite a few challenges, is sufficient
to conduct free, fair and credible elections as scheduled on February
14th and February 28th. Compared with 2011 when, within a short time,
we conducted general elections that were universally adjudged free,
fair and credible and the best in Nigeria's recent electoral history,
our processes are today better refined, more robust and therefore
capable of delivering even better elections.
Other Variables
But as I mentioned earlier, there are some other variables equally
crucial for successful conduct of the 2015 general elections that are
outside the control of INEC. One important variable is security for
the elections.
While the Commission has a very good working relationship with all
security agencies, especially on the platform of the Inter-agency
Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) since its
inception in 2010, it has become pertinent for it to seriously
consider the security advisory presented to it by the Security and
Intelligence Services. I would like to reiterate here that INEC is an
EMB and not a security agency. It relies on the security services to
provide a safe environment for personnel, voters, election observers
and election materials to conduct elections wherever it deploys. Where
the security services strongly advise otherwise, it would be
unconscionable of the Commission to deploy personnel and call voters
out in such a situation.
Read more at Vanguard, here:
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