Election Update:- I’d Rather Resign Than Postpone Elections – Prof. Attahiru Jega

The Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has
threatened to rather resign his
appointment than postpone the
scheduled February general
elections. He said nobody’s
demand, including that of the
National Council of States (NCS), or
any other institution, will make
INEC to postpone the February
general elections as scheduled. The
source further said that Jega
confided in them that he will
appeal even a court order on this
issue, and that only a Supreme
Court order will make him shift
ground.
A highly reliable source close to the
INEC Chairman who pleaded
anonymity told Universal Reporters
that Prof. Jega told a group of close
friends to which he belongs this
morning that he would would
rather resign his appointment and
save his personal and professional
integrity as an academic than be
humiliated by the act of postponing
the elections. The INEC Chairman
was said to have dropped this hint
against the backdrop of stories
making rounds in the media that
the NCS may advise against holding
the February election, using the
inexcusable excuse of poor
distribution of PVCs. He said in
spite of all the efforts put by his
commission and with over 80% of
PVCs made available, it will be
dishonest for anybody to use this
exercise to call for the
postponement of the elections.Our
source said Jega told them that if
postponement is forced on the
commission, then the only
honourable option open to him is
to resign.
The source concluded by saying
that it is Jega’s view both as a
professor of Political Science and
his experience as INEC’s Chairman
that any postponement of the
election would cause more harm to
the country than good.
The issue of postponing the
February elections has been
making waves for sometime now,
and it took a new dimension when
the National Security Adviser to
President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr.
Sambo Dasuki, joined the fray in
London last week.