Without prejudice to whatever willful
inadequacies of every mortal, Attahiru
Jega, a professor and out-going
National Chairman of Nigeria’s
election management body, the
Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, deserves to be
commended. As he exits that office,
there is going to be a fierce battle to
fill the slot.
And were President Muhammadu
Buhari be committed to sustaining the
transformative underpinning of Jega’s
tenure, he would not need to look
beyond the suggestions contained in
this piece.
More importantly, Mr. President would
need to divorce himself of any shade
of nepotic and prebendal inclinations
in appointing a replacement for Jega
so that he, too, would keep faith with
the need to build on what Jega started.
By Jide Ajani
There are moves being made in some
quarters by some prominent Emirs to
compel President Muhammadu Buhari
to appoint another northerner to fill the
position of the National Chairman,
Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that as the
battle rages, Mr. President has come
under considerable pressure by some
traditional rulers from the North
directly and, in some instances, using
proxies to make a case for one of the
National Commissioners.
Interestingly, the Commissioner is
also from the North West geo-political
zone like out-going Attahiru Jega.
And in what appears to be a direct
unintended though predictable
consequence of appointing retired civil
servants and old men and women into
the Commission, a 75-year old
national commissioner (name
withheld) was rushed to the Intensive
care Unit, ITU, of an You, Akwa Ibom
hospital recently while the
Commission was having a retreat in
that state.
Sunday Vanguard was made to
understand that even while in a state
of coma, he was flown in an air
ambulance to an Abuja-hospital.
He is still in a coma.
The impending exit of the Chairman of
the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, Professor Jega,
and his peers of national and state
Electoral Commissioners brings to a
potential an expected finale a
remarkable period in the history of the
Commission. They are the first crop of
electoral Commissioners to midwife
the affairs of the Commission after the
significant reforms enacted from the
recommendations of the Mohammed
Lawal Uwais Committee on Electoral
Reforms.
Professor Jega and the Commission
he led conducted two elections,
considered largely credible and
acceptable globally.
Both elections were principally
between two main candidates, former
President Goodluck Jonathan and
incumbent President Muhammadu
Buhari, both men won one out of both
contests, making any claims of bias to
either difficult to sustain.
The Commission, under Jega, can
therefore be said to have creditably
acquitted itself in terms.........
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/attahiru-jegas-replacement-the-pressure-on-buhari/

No need for pressure....
Too many capable hands..

f

k

That post will be filled with another northerner, federal character my foot

The name, Professor Attahiru Jega, A Kebbi-born, means different things to different people at different people at different point in time in walks of life. He is a lecturer ( political scientist), activist, former ASUU president and outgoing INEC boss( From JUNE 24, 2009 to JUNE 30, 2015).
He was the first INEC boss to have conducted two general elections( 2011 and 2015) and capped with transfer of power from then Ruling Party( People's Democratic Party, PDP) to then and now ruling party ( All Progressive Congress, APC).
His achievements in OFFICE as INEC BOSS includes: Introduction of Permanent Voters Card(PVC), provision of Carder Readers, wider voter's education for rural dwellers, among others.
In addition to his achievements, he is seen as an epitome of good character, because he was able to handle and prevent national crises planning by one of the PDP chieftain and former Minister of Niger-Delta, Orubebe. Despite the former Minister's reaction and inaction, Prof. Jega gave an EPIC response to his twenty-one minutes inaction. Jega's Response as follow::::

You have made two comments. One is that you submitted a petition which I refused to accept. Secondly you claimed that there was a result released by the APC which you alleged that we gave to them or I gave to them. With regards to the first point, yesterday after we took the first batch of results in this hall and as we declared a recess until 4pm, as I was walking down back to the office, my PA came to me and said that here are some papers that Dr Bello Fadile, a representative of the PDP said that he should collect it; that I said Dr Fadile should give him those papers. I told him that I didn't tell Dr Fadile to give any papers to you. Return them to him because Dr Fadile, after we declared for recess came on to this platform. As a party agent, he is not supposed to do that and gave some documents to my PA who is writing results here. and I am sure some of the agents and some of the pressmen may have seen that and I told my PA to take back those documents to him. If he told you I told him to give you any documents, I did not. Take them back to him, Subsequently, Dr Fadile sent me a text message saying that there are petitions and that he wants to submit them. I told him we don't collect petitions on the platform when we are declaring results and then he said I should have left my office open so that they can submit those petitions in my office. I told him our secretary, the secretary to the commission is not anywhere in this hall. She is in her office and that her business is to receive communication. If they are important enough, she would bring them to me here. I have started collation. I cannot be receiving petition in this hall or in this platform. And when I replied that text message, he replied again and said Okay, he will see what he can do. I interpreted the text as he was going to take that petition or whatever document he has to the secretary of the commission. As I speak with you now, I have not received anything from the secretary to the commission. That is regards to the issue of the so called petition.

Regarding results published by APC on its website, I do not give results to anybody. The results were announced formally as INEC are results declared here. And we have warned everybody to be careful and to ensure that the do not declare results which we have not officially announced. So as far as I am concerned I have not seen any results. I have not given anybody any results. So for you to even engage me on that issue I think frankly that is not fair to me. I have not seen the results. How can I speak on something that I have not seen. So please let us be careful of what we say or do so that we do not disrupt a process that has ended peacefully and in a matter of hours we would be able to finish it.".
Moreso, he has promised not to seek re- appointment as INEC boss even if given the opportunity. Thus making the INEC top post vacate.

On this present occasion, our political activities in Nigeria are media-driven( including Nairaland Forum). Therefore, I would like my fellow Nairalanders to make a suggestion of any credible Nigerian that will fill and consolidate achievement left behind by Prof. Jega.
Written by Gafar Abiola Raji