The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the President’s decision to
summon INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega to a meeting that was not attended by
other political parties in Abuja on Tuesday is part of ongoing moves to
compromise the integrity of the electoral commission, which is expected to
be fair and neutral.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it is wrong for the
President, who himself is a candidate in the forthcoming elections, to be
summoning the electoral umpire at will, especially when such meetings are
populated by his appointees.
”Without the representatives of other political parties attending such
meetings, irrespective of whether or not it is aimed at briefing security
chiefs on the preparations for the polls, the ruling PDP and its
presidential candidate are seeking to gain undue advantage over others
ahead of the elections.
”It is like the referee in a football match meeting with key officials of
one of the teams ahead of the match. This is against the spirit of
transparency and fairness and must stop forthwith.
”Had the representatives of other political parties apart from the PDP
(the President is the leader of the PDP) attended the meeting, the
widespread speculations that Jega’s life and job were threatened if he
fails to drop the use of the card reader, as well as circulating reports
that he will be removed before Saturday, would not have happened,” it
said.
APC said whatever briefings must be given by the INEC chairman on the
elections must have in attendance the representatives of all the political
parties that will participate in the elections.
It also decried clandestine meetings between some key presidency and INEC
officials with a view to rigging the elections, warning the presidency to
steer clear of the electoral officials if indeed they are desirous of a
free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.
Meanwhile, the party has said the Presidency and the PDP cannot and must
not be allowed to profit from their sponsorship of ethnic militias,
including MASSOB and OPC, to create chaos and violence before, during and
after the elections.
It said the plot by the duo is to make the country so unsafe before the
polls that members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who are
supposed to serve as electoral officials, will simply say they can no
longer participate in the elections because they fear for their lives.
”This will simply truncate the elections and trigger a constitutional
crisis, the exact scenario being plotted by the Jonathan Administration
and the PDP to allow them to either perpetuate themselves in office or
install an interim government,” APC said.
It said another booby trap on the path of holding the elections as
rescheduled are the pending court cases against the use of the card reader
by INEC.
”Nigerians should note that nothing is yet guaranteed as far as the
holding of the rescheduled elections is concerned. The Jonathan
Administration and the PDP are still shopping for a court judgement to
declare the use of the card reader unconstitutional, just because they are
now painfully aware that Nigerians have rejected them and their party..
”We are therefore calling on all our compatriots to be more vigilant in
the next few days to the elections. We are also alerting local and foreign
observers, and the international community, to the ongoing shenanigans by
the Jonathan Administration and the PDP to scuttle the polls,” APC said