Date Published: 04/02/11

CAN, ANPP, CNPP, reject Monday Date

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); Presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP) and Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), have rejected the April 4 date fixed by INEC for the National Assembly polls because they were not consulted .

INEC boss, Attahiru Jega, announced the date in Abuja after suspending the polls yesterday.

The suspension, he said, was necessitated by the supplier’s failure to meet up the deadline for delivery of vital materials.

“We reject this unilateral decision by (INEC) to fix the postponed National Assembly polls for Monday. The new date does not give us enough time to re-mobilise our agents and put in place the necessary logistics,”the ACN said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“It is our position that if INEC could not conduct the elections on Saturday despite its long preparation for the exercise, it is incontestable that it will fail us again on Monday, It said”

Buhari and the parties suggested that the National Assembly elections should hold simultaneously with the presidential election on Saturday instead of tomorrow.

According to the ACN, “the only day between Saturday and Monday is Sunday, when banks do not open. Where does INEC expect us to get the funds to mobilise our agents for Monday’s election? Only the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can quickly mobilise such funds. So that date cannot stand, unless Jega is working against the opposition.”

The party added: ‘’Also, the delay in the arrival and distribution of the result sheet is not the only thing that was wrong with the election today (Saturday). There are many lapses on the part of INEC which cannot be rectified between now and Monday.

For example, a voter at a polling booth in Lagos (Aboyade Cole/Manuwa polling booth) said the Labour Party was not on the ballot that was used there. This is an invitation to post-electoral litigation.

‘’In Kwara, the number of ballot papers supplied was largely inadequate, meaning that many voters would have been disenfranchised if the election had not been postponed. In several states, registered voters could not find their names in the register. In fact, at polling booth 004 in Amuwo Odofin in Lagos, less than 50 of the 720 who registered there found their names. It is therefore necessary for INEC to rectify these problems!”.

ACN said Jega should take the reports from his field officials to know the exact problems with today’s election, with a view to rectifying them, instead of rushing to fix a new, unrealistic date for the postponed election.

It also advised him to look inwards in identifying the reason for the bungling of the poll, reminding him of ACN’s consistent warning that his integrity alone will not translate to credible polls, and that the commission still harbours the rump of Maurice Iwu’s mafia that ensured no election was successful during his (Iwu’s) tenure.

ACN said while it appreciates Jega’s candour in admitting INEC’s shortcoming and took responsibility for it, that does not mitigate the fact that Nigerians have been embarrassed and their enthusiasm dampened by the commission’s mis-step.

‘’For instance, if the materials were supposed to have arrived on Thursday and they did not arrive, as Jega said, shouldn’t INEC have saved Nigerians this huge embarrassment and wastage of scarce resources by postponing the poll, instead of cancelling it after it has started? ‘’ the party queried.

CPC’s statement signed by Yinka Odunmakin, said Jega owed the country a fuller explanation, adding that the mishandling of the result sheets was not enough reason for postponement.

“The election was a shame. It showed the shoddy arrangement made by INEC, despite the huge resources voted for the exercise. INEC has failed Nigerians and it should avoid committing the same error on Monday.”

CPC warned Jega to beware, saying many Nigerians, who had lost hope in the ballot box, decided to have a re-think because of his credibility and integrity.

“We are of the view that, if the election holds on Monday, it will be rigged for PDP” it said.

ANPP National chairman Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said the combination of the National Assembly and Presidential elections would minimise cost for INEC and parties.

He praised INEC for postponing the elections adding that the lapses witnessed yesterday could affect the integrity of the election and the commission.

Onu urged Nigerians not to relent in their determination to ensure that credible people are elected into office, stressing that only credible people would ensure adequate social amenities in the country.

CNPP, in a statement by its The National Publicity Secretary Mr. Osita Okechukwu said the polls shift was unwarranted.

The CNPP said: “The postponement is an unwarranted false start and has levied unwarranted huge cost to the Nigerian people. It is highly regrettable and unpardonable in spite of the apology tendered by Prof. Jega.

“Questions! Questions! Questions! Why is it that Professor Jega and his team failed to postpone the election on Thursday or Friday when they noticed that the vendor had failed to deliver on schedule or knew that the materials would not be on the ground as scheduled?

“Why fail to save Nigerians the huge cost – of resources, energy, time, especially the opposition political parties?

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