[size=14pt]Jega, party chiefs okay polls for April[/size]
Headlines Sep 21, 2010 By Ben Agande & Gbenga Oke

ABUJA—CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday, said the commission would need up to April 2011 for it to be able to conduct elections that would not only be credible but would be seen as ‘Grade A’ by all stakeholders and observers.

Jega’s proposal was in agreement with leaders of the political parties at a meeting in Abuja,that the timeline for the primaries and other activities leading to the conduct of the elections were not feasible and should be shifted to enable the commission to perfect its preparations.

Jega who stated this when he met with the leadership of registered political parties in the country also said the commission’s decision to seek more time was not borne out of any ‘hidden agenda’ but to ensure that the huge expectations of Nigerians for a free, fair and credible elections were met.

Vanguard gathered that INEC chairman’s position was also endorsed by majority of the leaders of all registered political parties in attendance at the meeting including Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; and All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

Jega said: “There appears to be an overwhelming consensus that we are facing a very serious time constraint and it is necessary for something to be done to address this time constraint. If I got the message very clearly, most of the contributors are not only supportive of the need to have additional time to be able to do a good work, they have also pledged to be supportive in ensuring that this time extension is got.

Extension up to April

“The question on the table has been what is the time that INEC needs. Now I can put it on the table. We have done our calculation and some people in their contributions have seen what we have seen.

If you take into consideration the time lines that have been missed, what additional time would we require? It is very clear that we would need not less than two additional months.

That would take us to March. But what is worth doing is worth doing well. If we are willing to give an extension up to March, our preference is that we should get an extension up to April because once we get this sufficient time, we will have enough room to do an excellent job and God willing, you would be able to grade us ‘A’ in terms of what we would deliver within this time frame.

“Of course there are concerns as to the issue of litigations after the elections. This would not affect the time of handover of May 29, 2011. The way we looked at it is that if we have sufficient time to do a good job, the result would reduce drastically the possibility of litigations.

If that happens then the dangers that we are worried about are not likely to occur. That is why for us our preference is that if we can get up to April, then we will do a grade ‘A’ job.”

Chairman of the PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, said the timeline provided for the primaries and other activities leading to the conduct of the elections were not feasible and called on the commission to explore all legal means for extension.

Nwodo added that the existing timeline as unveiled by the INEC two weeks ago ‘is difficult to obey’ even for a big political party like the PDP.

Earlier, INEC had demonstrated to the leaders of the political parties present the software it had developed in-house to ensure that the issue of multiple registration was curtailed.

Under the new arrangement, prospective voters would have all their ten fingers captured to avoid a situation whereby somebody may be tempted to use different fingers to perpetrate multiple registration.

The commission’s resident consultant who explained the new software to the party leaders said that each Direct Data Capturing Machine was attached to a specific polling unit and could be tracked to wherever it was moved to.

Jega said the commission had missed some of the deadlines it had set for itself which it said would facilitate the conduct of the elections, stressing: “The reason the Commission decided to be up front with the Nigerian people about the herculean challenges confronting it was an abiding commitment to ensuring their ownership of whatever the Commission is doing.

We have always insisted that our actions will be transparent and that we shall always seek the understanding and support of Nigerians in difficult times. Surely, this is one of such times.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/09/jega-party-chiefs-okay-polls-for-april/

Give them 10 years we would still hear the same old story.

There is nothing independent about INEC and so-called Chairman Prof. A. Jega. It will usher true sense of fairness and independency if Jega should resign as the Chairman of INEC since his appointment was made by GEJ who is also a candidate for 2011 Nigerian presidential election. This is certainly a case of conflict of interest.

If INEC is allowed to conduct the polls for 2011 Nigerian presidential election whereas GEJ who appointed Jega remains as candidate, the said election can never be free and fair.