“Once Prof. Jega is removed, Mr. President
will nominate a new chairman who will
declare that INEC is not ready to use PVCs.
And once PVCs are removed, it will become
easier to carry out major rigging,” an INEC
source said.


SaharaReporters has learned that hawkish members of
President Goodluck Jonathan’s inner circle have convinced
him to move in an aggressive and decisive manner to
remove Attahiru Jega as the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) this week.
Sources within INEC as well as the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) disclosed that, barring a last-
minute change of heart, President Jonathan will go ahead
this week to force Mr. Jega to embark on a terminal leave
prior to the end of his year in the middle of 2015.
Our sources said the decision to remove Mr. Jega would
open the door to appoint a new chairman, a national
commisoner of INEC, Amina Bala Zakari, who would be
open to jettisoning the use of permanent voters cards and
other anti-rigging technologies. “Once Prof. Jega is
removed, Mr. President will nominate a new chairman who
will declare that INEC is not ready to use PVCs. And once
PVCs are removed, it will become easier to carry out major
rigging,” an INEC source said.
He added that the Presidency had been able to use its
massive slush funds, sourced from deals in the oil and
energy sectors, to compromise a majority of INEC officials
in the states. Over the last four years, Petroleum Minister
Diezani Alison-Madueke has been stashing away funds
that President Jonathan is now using to bribe electoral
officials, traditional rulers, and even some members of the
civil society groups. One PDP insider told SaharaReporters
that Mr. Jonathan had distributed more than $200 million to
different groups since INEC postponed elections two weeks
ago.
Several sources said the removal of Mr. Jega is a major
part of a strategy developed by President Jonathan’s team
to ensure that they win the presidential and other elections
by hook or crook. The presidential election is now
scheduled for March 28 while governorship and legislative
polls will hold on April 11.
Two weeks ago, facing a groundswell of opposition and in
the face of rising unpopularity, the PDP and Mr. Jonathan
used a series of maneuvers to compel INEC to postpone
elections for six weeks. SaharaReporters had detailed plans
by Mr. Jonathan and his team to postpone elections in
order to slow the momentum of the All Progressives
Congress and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu
Buhari.
The Presidency knew that the APC and its presidential
candidate were short on campaign funds, said our sources.
In forcing the postponement, Mr. Jonathan and his inner
circle achieved a temporary crippling of the main
opposition party’s ability to continue to run political
campaigns and to sustain its electoral lead over the ruling
party.
An APC top official told SaharaReporters that the party was
truly short of funds. “The president and his people have
been putting aside public funds for a long time. They are
now sharing the money around the country, but Nigerians
are not fools. When the elections come, people will
remember that all that money was stolen from them,” he
said.
Prior to the postponement, some PDP officials had confided
in SaharaReporters that their party and Mr. Jonathan were
on the ropes and faced certain defeat. But following the
postponement, some of the same officials now wax
confidence, asserting that Mr. Jonathan and their party
would comfortably win the elections.
A PDP official told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jega’s
removal was a done deal. According to him, the hawks
around Mr. Jonathan, including Ms. Alison-Madueke,
Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Vice President Namadi Sambo,
and presidential aides Doyin Okupe and Femi Fani-Kayode,
believe that the PDP and Mr. Jonathan can weather the
storm of any fallout from the firing of the INEC chairman.
“They believe the APC, the world press, the US and EU will
make noise, but then everybody will eventually calm
down,” said the source. He added that the same situation
played out when President Jonathan removed Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi as the Governor of the Central Bank.
Our sources said Mr. Jega’s refusal to be compromised in
the conduct of this year’s elections had spelt his doom.
“Many RECs (resident electoral commissioners) are in the
party’s [PDP’s] pocket, but Professor Jega has refused
even to pick up the phone calls of those representing the
president. That’s why the decision has been reached to
push him out of the way,” one INEC source said. He added
that Mr. Jega knew that the eyes of the world were on him,
and had decided to run elections that are acknowledged as
credible.
Our sources added that, before and after Mr. Jega’s
removal, the PDP plans to launch a major campaign to
depict him as incompetent, corrupt, and a servant of the
APC. “His successor will come out and say that INEC’s
preparations for the elections are in a state of mess and
that further delay is needed to make proper preparations,”
he added.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/01/presidency-may-remove-jega-week

I'm waiting!!! Jonah fe teh

Can't wait for dis week to come to an end. Jega days re numbered!