National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Presidency has launched a
two-pronged war to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan wins the
election convincingly.
The two strategies are to stop Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives
Congress candidate from contesting the election with Jonathan and the
replacement of the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, with a less
independent-minded person. Jega, it was gathered, had been described
by hawks around the president of being too independent-minded and
'uncooperative' despite being given the job on a platter of gold by
the president's men.
Vanguard reports that Jega might have unwittingly played into the
hands of the forces arrayed against him by agreeing to shift the
elections.
Legal war to disqualify Buhari
Competent sources said last night that the move to remove Jega and the
legal fireworks against Buhari, would be taken up simultaneously with
effect from this week given the timeframe made possible by the shift.
The retired general is to be prosecuted by a team of legal luminaries
for 'lying on oath' that he had a school certificate with the Nigerian
Army when he knew that it was untrue. The plaintiffs are said to have
settled for trying Buhari for alleged 'perjury' instead of outright
non-possession of certificate following legal advice that the latter
would be more difficult to prove within the time at their disposal.
Vanguard learnt that although Jega reluctantly succumbed to pressure
from the Presidency and its security chiefs to shift the polls, he
might still not be allowed by the forces to conduct the rescheduled
elections between March 28 and April 11.Vanguardgathered from
competent sources that the Presidency was no longer comfortable with
Jega and was, therefore, working tirelessly to get him out of the
commission to pave the way for a more 'trusted hand' to conduct the
rescheduled elections.
It was learnt that the forces arrayed against the INEC boss had
convinced the President not to renew Jega's tenure, which is expected
to lapse on June 13 this year. The forces, it was learnt, felt that
Jega was rather too 'difficult' to deal with, having not allowed
himself to be dictated to by anyone since assuming office like other
appointees of the government.
It was learnt that in a bid to sweep off Jega from his seat without
raising any dust, he would be asked to comply with the civil service
procedure by proceeding on his three months terminal leave with effect
from March 1, this year since he is expected to retire on June 13.
S-West gov's brother may replace Jega
Vanguard gathered that in his place, the Presidency was considering
bringing in another academic from the South-West, who is currently
heading a tertiary institution in the country. The professor of
Political Science and International Relations is said to be a sibling
of a serving governor in the South-West, who is a close ally of
President Goodluck Jonathan and his party.
Competent sources also toldVanguardlast night that although the name
of the academic had been made known in security circles, it was not
clear whether the man had been cleared by the forces with a view to
sending his name to the National Assembly for possible confirmation,
as required by law.
Working against Jonathan's interest
As a prelude to removing Jega from office, some close allies of the
President had started accusing him of taking side with the opposition
to undermine the success of Jonathan and his party in the next
election. Earlier last week, Jonathan's godfather, Chief Edwin Clark
and other prominent politicians from the Southern part of the country
had accused Jega of working against the interest of the president and
the PDP and asked him to resign from the commission.
Although no evidence was adduced by Clark and his group to support
their allegation, they nonetheless called for the arrest of Jega.
Similarly, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Saturday, said Jega had lied about the
state of the commission's preparedness for the conduct of the
election.
In the same vein, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr.
Olisa Metuh, accused INEC of working with the opposition to deny its
members of permanent voter cards in some states. He called on the
security agents to probe the commission over the development.
--Vanguard
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