The Presidency on Friday rejected calls by some individuals, groups and political parties for the sacking of the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega over the inconclusive Anambra governorship election.
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH in Abuja, assured Nigerians that President Goodluck Jonathan would not sack the INEC boss.
While describing the call for Jega’s removal as laughable, Gulak said Jega, as far as the inconclusive election was concerned, did nothing wrong to warrant his removal from office.
He accused the opposition All Progressives Congress of allegedly causing confusion by importing thugs into the state from Lagos and Osun states.
The presidential aide wondered whether those calling for the sacking of the INEC boss were conversant with the provisions of the constitution, saying the President cannot single-handedly sack him without the approval of the Senate.
Gulak said, “The call is very laughable. It was the APC that ‘imported’ thugs from Lagos and Osun states. Security operatives arrested them and we all saw them.
“The APC people cannot be beneficiary of their own bad acts. So on that, the President will not sack Jega.
“I wonder if those making the calls are familiar with the provision. Jega can only be sacked through the process that he was appointed. The Senate must approve such decision before it can be carried out.”
Gulak spoke even as calls for Jega’s removal polarised civil society groups and a group of political parties.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties demanded Jega’s immediate removal over the governorship poll.
CNPP’s call received support from the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen.
However, several civil society groups including the Voters Assembly, the Civil Liberties Organisation, Spaces for Change and the Campaign For Democracy described such calls as hasty.
Spokesman for the CNPP, Mr. Osita Okechukwu told SUNDAY PUNCH, in a telephone interview in Abuja that Jega should either resign or be sacked.
According to him, Jega could not be trusted with the 2015 elections because he had shown lack of capacity in conducting “a small election” in a state with all the human and material resources at his disposal.
He noted that Anambra State did not pose the kind of logistical challenge other states were likely to provide, yet the Jega-led INEC failed in spite of “all the resources deployed.”
Okechukwu said, “Over 20,000 security agents were deployed; INEC will not have the luxury of deploying such a number of security agents to all the states in 2015.
“We are asking for his resignation or removal because it is either he is grossly inept or grossly lacking capacity or he is complicit; either of them is dangerous for 2015.
“If he has any of these features, it is dangerous for him to preside over the 2015 general elections. Imagine a situation where voters in Kano, Lagos, Aba, and Port-Harcourt, come to the polling station in 2015 and then their names are deleted from the register, can you imagine the mayhem?”
He also said it was instructive that there were only problems in the strongholds of the candidates other than that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Speaking in a similar vein, National Convener of the NPAPB, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said, “I fully endorse calls for the immediate sacking of Jega. There will be no election in 2015 with Jega as INEC Chairman. He should be fired, the entire INEC should be disbanded. All the National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners should be fired.”
He suggested that the electoral law should be amended to allow citizens, civil society groups and other stakeholders in democracy to have a say in electing and confirming the chairman of INEC and all the National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners.
Mohammed said it was a travesty that the President, who was going to be judged by the conduct of INEC, was the same person given the responsibility of appointing the INEC chairman and all commissioners.
He stressed, “It is undemocratic; it is also plain stupid and irresponsible to ignore.
“The overwhelming majority of Nigerians, whether it is the civil society, political parties and other stakeholders in our democracy, who are going to be affected by the decisions of INEC, ought to have a say in who becomes the chairman and those who become commissioners.”
Some civil society groups that monitored the election, however, described the call for Jega’s removal as too hasty, because the obvious lapses during the Anambra election were not directly Jega’s fault.
The Transition Monitoring Group, a coalition of civil society organisations, said there was no evidence that Jega connived with anybody to sabotage the election.
Speaking for the group, the Chairman, Voters’ Assembly, Moshood Erubami, said, “We don’t believe Jega should be removed. He has not shown in any way that he connived with anybody to sabotage the Anambra election. I don’t believe Jega will do that. INEC made efforts to conduct a free and fair election but it didn’t consider certain human factors that ended up sabotaging the process.”
The Civil Liberties Organisations on its part said it would only call for Jega’s removal, if those found guilty of the lapses during the election go unpunished.
The Executive Director of CLO, Ibuchukwu Ezike, said, “We do not support the call for the removal of Jega. He has done a lot to attract the confidence of many people, including the international community.
“What happened in Anambra was insider sabotage. The fact that INEC admitted publicly that its staff did it shows an air of credibility on the part of Jega.
“If at the end of the day those found guilty are not punished or disciplined, we will call for Jega’s removal, because, then, he would have become a collaborator.”
Also, the Spaces for Change said removing Jega now would be a mistake because a new chairman of INEC would not be experienced enough to conduct 2015 elections.
The Executive Director, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, said, “I think that call is hasty because in as much as we are unhappy with what happened in Anambra, we know that democracy is an ever-growing process. INEC is a big institution. Jega has gained a lot of experience in the act of managing election in Nigeria for a number of years. All that experience cannot be thrown away just because of a single mistake.”
In her submission, the President, Campaign for Democracy, Joe Okei-Odumakin, agreed.
She said even though the INEC chairman admitted that there were some irregularities in the election, the problem with electoral processes was institutional and not about individual.
She said, “There is no doubt about it, we will always have bottlenecks during elections and the room for improvement.
“One cannot throw away the baby with the bath water; we should always give room for perfection. I don’t subscribe to the idea that Jega should be sacked.
“Any INEC official that has collaborated with some forces, which has caused this colossal waste of time and resources by sabotaging preparations made by INEC should be made known and brought to book.”
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, stated that Jega’s removal would not guarantee fair and free polls. He said the crisis was beyond the individuality of Jega.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria added that the mistake Nigerians made was that Jega’s appointment was celebrated, while all the indicted electoral officers in the commission were not removed.
Falana said, “There is institutionalised rigging machinery in INEC, solidly erected. It is not a case of incompetence or negligence but that of a system that is solidly erected on fraud and manipulation.
“During the 2011 general elections, embarrassed Jega postponed the entire exercise due to inadequacy of materials. In Edo State (2012 governorship election), Oredo Local Government with the highest voting strength was starved for electoral materials.
In Ondo State (2013), the voter register was also said to have been tainted. As currently constituted, INEC is not in the position to conduct credible elections. It has to be totally overhauled and restructured in line with the recommendations of the (Justice Muhammed) Uwais Panel.
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