₦airaland Forum

Parties should kick against it. Whatever would happen to Jega's appointment should come after the general elections. He is the one who's been planning for this election, why would they consider replacing him at the eleventh hour?

kristisking:
People with fish brain like you never see reason why Buhari should be totally rejected.Whether you like it or not,Buhari will never be Nigerian president.

Clueless people like you couples the reason Jonathan will not be president. And from your comment, I doubt if you have brain at all.

[center][/center]I knew it all along that it'd come to this. Jonathan is the most cunning man I've ever seen. And this is just a clear invitation to war. So all my anti-progressive Nairalanders would now believe me when I said Jonathan had a hidden motive for postponing that election beyond the PVC and lack-of-security excuse. He wants Jega out of the way! But Mr President, even if you appoint your wife (Iya Peace) as INEC President. You'll still lose the election to GMB by a clear margin. I'm sure of that.

HARDDON:
It is worrisome , gruesomely appalling, that the same party clamouring for CHANGE is the one fielding an old, haggard, recycled Islam bigot without a bl00dy cert!!

Which change r u gunning for? Strifling of freedom of speech n press?? Or cancelling of rail contracts or killing at will?

This is logically untenable n morally unacceptable.

May d bomb that has been blowing up innocent souls visit ppl like u n this Islam party!

APC = Islam party! Or what explanation hv u got to give to the fact that no christian currently holds any major position in d party?
A party that once considered fielding a moslem moslem ticket.

If only s1 wud be kind enuf to tell him to step down. This isn't gono just blow away, he wud be disqualified!

May God forgive you...

ceejayluv:
Even if Jah himself tells me to consider Buhari, I'll straight up disobey... E don reach like that.

Now I understand why you can never understand.

Of cause it would be a coup of the highest order. So many things going on underneath our knowledge. Our leaders up to so many filthy things. I know that the election postponement was not because of anybody or anything but themselves. God pass them. I will continue to #March4Buhari

Well said baba. God bless you sir...

ceejayluv:
Let him present his kpali first...

He couldn't pardon drug dealers convicted via a retroactive law, his WAI brigade were merciless in frog-marching and flogging citizens.

Then you expect us to overlook his certificate and perjury issue? Mbanu!!

God'll still do what he'll do regardless of what you decide to look or overlook.

Very good... Go and collect your PVCs my people, that's the only thing that can make your voice be heard.

onagoodday:
It is better to be shoeless than certificateless

Whoever told you Jonathan was ever shoeless has succeeded in making you believe a big lie. And whoever told you Buhari has no certificate has likewise done the same.

ozoigbondu:
So you want a ballish illiterate to rule over you.Education edifies the mind an uneducated mind is brutal and unrefined thus their rule is tryannical
Buhari is an uneducated and showed his unrefined mind during his two years brutal rule that almost turned Nigeria into north korea if not for evil ibb.
He will not do better judging from his recent behaviour and utterance

Jesus in the synagogue was considered an illiterate by the scribes but yet with the knowledge that superseded them all. Likewise Moses who was a Shepherd, he managed to take the israelites from Egypt. When God wants to use you, your qualifications becomes irrelevant. And besides, this man in question is not an illiterate. He went to foreign schools and speaks English very well. Is that your definition of illiteracy?

onagoodday:
nobody is afraid of him, we only want a president that has strength left in him, a president devoid of senility, a president with a least a verifiable and non controversial SSCE/WAEC certificate, we do not want to be embarrassed in future at the international community, if @72 he calls independent national electoral com. ind nig elect. com and APC all people confidence and that election was shifted for 6mnths instead of 6wks imagine when he is older and more senile....so we r not scared of change but protecting our future

And you think the best insurance you could give to your future is Jonathan? Another 4yrs of much work and less pay for the common man and "stealing is not corruption" for the big bosses at the top?

Because they can't stand it for their money making well to be sandfilled by transparency and honesty. God Pass them.

Nice one the People's General. God bless you sir

SeverusSnape:
So he removed his cap this time around?
Funny... waiting for Jonathan to visit a mosque....

Didn't he remove his cap in this pic?

All hail Nigeria's next president! What's not to love about this man? Long Live GMB

All I know is that educational standard doesn't guarantee good leadership. You could be a prof and yet don't have balls to lead.

I don't get why some people are just so scared of a change that is imminent. Would you rather Jonathan goes unopposed? Are you that afraid of GMB? Why are you so bent on getting him out of the race? No matter the effort you put, God will nullify them. Buhari is the man!

Pressure mounted by President Goodluck Jonathan’s loyalists and service chiefs on the Independent National Electoral Commission led to the postponement of the 2015 general elections, we have learnt.

The polls were billed for February 14 (presidential and National Assembly) and February 28 (governorship and House of Assembly).

Jonathan, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, is contesting against retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress and 12 other candidates at the presidential poll.

Those who pushed for the postponement, despite the opposition from the All Progressives Congress and many Nigerians, include the Presidency; the Peoples Democratic Party Jonathan’s loyalists; the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki; the Chiefs of Defence, Army, Naval and Air Staff, among others.

Two weeks ago, Dasuki, while speaking at a forum at the Chatham House in London, asked INEC to postpone the elections, saying the shift would allow for proper preparations and distribution of PVCs by the electoral body.

In an apparent reaction to Dasuki’s call, the United States had on January 25, 2015, advised Nigeria against postponing the elections.

The US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, gave the advice after he met with Jonathan and Buhari.

Kerry urged the Federal Government not to postpone the elections as canvassed by Dasuki.

However, the military chiefs wrote to Jega, informing him of the security implication of holding the elections in February as earlier scheduled. This, it was learnt, what part of what influenced shifting of the polls.

Before the INEC chairman announced the new dates for the elections, the commission had insisted that the presidential and National Assembly elections be held on February 14, while the governorship and states House of Assembly election be held two weeks later.

Jega, however, changed the dates of the elections at a press conference he addressed at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Saturday. He repeatedly held the NSA and security chiefs responsible for the shift.

The press conference came up after he met with representatives of all registered political parties.

Jega was said to have on Saturday told the leaders of the parties, his officers and the civil society groups that the commission was ready for the election as planned, but that he was worried because of the claim by the security agencies that they would not be able to protect members of the staff of the commission and the electorates.

Sixteen political parties led by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party were said to have favoured the shifting of the elections, while nine others led by the opposition All Progressives Congress were against the move.

Jega also had a marathon meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners of all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

At the meetings, Jega was said to have told the attendees that he had received a letter from service chiefs advising that he should postpone the general elections on the grounds that the security agencies were engaged in a renewed battle against insurgency in the North-East.

This, they claimed, would require their full concentration.

In the letter, it was gathered that the security agencies were demanding a rescheduling of elections by, at least, six weeks.

He also told the leaders of the political parties and the Resident Electoral Commissioners that he received a letter on Wednesday from the NSA, informing him that it would be difficult for the security agencies to protect the electorates during the election.

The Council of State had on Thursday rose from a seven-hour meeting, advising the INEC to conduct the elections.

Jega was quoted to have told the council that the commission was ready for the conduct of the election but the military chiefs were quoted to have said they could not guarantee the security of electoral officers, materials and the electorate should the commission go ahead with the earlier schedule.

Same Thursday, Jonathan’s supporters under the aegis of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly led by Ijaw leader and ex-Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, called for the postponement of the polls.

The group, at a press conference, pressed further by asking for the sacking Chairman, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and his arrest for allegedly conniving with some northerners to manipulate the presidential election against Jonathan.

Those in attendance included a former Vice-President, Alex Ekwueme, ex-Minister of Information, Walter Ofonagoro; ex-Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife; Peoples Democratic Party’s National Vice-Chairman (South-South), Dr. Cairo Ojugboh, and the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee of the recently held national confab, Senator Femi Okurounmu, among others.

Okurounmu, who read a prepared speech jointly signed by him, Clark and Ekwueme on behalf of the group, said the alleged connivance with the Northern Elders Forum was responsible for the near 100 per cent collection of Permanent Voter Cards in the North.

The PDP has also repeatedly called for a shift of the polls in the past two weeks.

An INEC National Commissioner, who spoke under anonymity after the Saturday meetings, said it was better for the commission to shift the elections in order to protect the integrity of their outcome and those that would take part in the conduct of the elections.

He said, “You needed to be at the meeting and see the mood of Jega. He was not happy because his integrity was at stake and because these same service chiefs had earlier given their words that they were ready.

“Now, if he didn’t listen to their advice, these same security agencies could create scenes (problems) for the elections. They could sabotage the distribution of sensitive materials.

“Apart from that, they could also refuse to provide security for those involved in the elections and could also sabotage the movement of sensitive materials.”

The source said almost everyone in the country was aware that the PDP-led Federal Government was not ready for the elections.

“If the Federal Government that is funding the security agencies and appointed their heads is not ready for elections, how do you compel their heads who are all appointees of the same government to say they are ready,” another INEC National Commissioner asked.

The rumors had been swirling around the Nigerian capital, Abuja, for days: the government was going to find some way to delay the presidential election in Africa’s most populous and economically powerful country. The vote was to be held on Feb. 14. There were court cases, complaints about voter card distribution and the ability of those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency to cast their ballots.
In the end, the pretext selected—with an almost barefaced cynicism—was security. Late Saturday, the election was delayed by six weeks. The head of the National Electoral Commission issued a statement to announce his decision that, reading between the lines, carries a whiff of blackmail. “The national security advisor,” wrote Attahiru Jega, “and all the armed services and intelligence chiefs unanimously reiterated that the safety and security of [electoral] operations can not be guaranteed.”
That’s the type of language organized criminals use to gift-wrap a threat. U.S. officials, already losing patience with the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan and his key ministers, should add this flagrant effort to control the outcome of the election to the list of reasons why it’s time to get tough.



There is no reason for Nigerians to believe that their government will do a better job over the next six weeks.
Of course, the security situation in northern Nigeria is terrible. A glance at recent headlines is enough to confirm that. But for months, those same headlines have made it clear that the Nigerian government has been less than diligent in combatting Boko Haram. Soldiers driven to mutiny by the lack of weapons and munitions despite soaring defense budgets have been court-martialed and sentenced to death. Late last year, Abuja abruptly cancelled a U.S. training program aimed at building a new counterinsurgency battalion. So widespread and well-documented are the human rights abuses of existing units that by law, the U.S. is prohibited from partnering with them.
There is no reason for Nigerians to believe that their government, which has thus far failed to address the Boko Haram insurgency or the political and economic grievances that have given rise to it, will do a better job over the next six weeks. The sudden preoccupation with the safety and wellbeing of citizens in the marginalized northeast does not ring true. Even if the African Union’s recently-approved 7,500 troops rushed in, U.S. Africa Command’s Gen. David Rodriguez said in Washington just two weeks ago that it would take a full-scale multinational counterinsurgency (like the one he ran in Afghanistan)—with a constructive government—to turn the tide against Boko Haram.


Having lived for a decade through several rigged elections in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, I know well how security concerns can be manipulated for electoral purposes. In Afghanistan, the approach was the reverse of Nigeria’s. Since the dangerous south was presumed to favor President Hamid Karzai, a native son, he put his entire security apparatus to work ensuring that as many polling places were open as possible. Not so people could vote—they couldn’t, the Taliban intimidated them away from the polls. Karzai’s objective was to secure a generous number of empty ballot boxes that could later be stuffed.
But the martyred Nigerian north is presumed to favor the opposition, now running the closest national race in the country’s 16 years as a democracy. The ruling clique, now in a real horserace, has never tried hard to ensure north-easterners could vote. As many as 40,000 displaced people are reportedly assigned to a single polling place in some states. If adverse security conditions depressed turnout, say many Nigerians I have interviewed, the ruling party would not mind. Now, with the outcome in doubt even with the reduced turnout, the violence is a pretext for putting the whole process in jeopardy.
For the ruling party, say many, the Boko Haram insurgency is proving a godsend.
Nigeria is not the only country where corrupt elites that have bent the levers of power to the service of personal enrichment have retained their grip on power by means of electoral exercises that were anything but democratic. Karzai did it in Afghanistan. In Egypt, former President Hosni Mubarak and now Abdel Fattah el-Sisi bask in elections whose results are a foregone conclusion, as do the rulers of Algeria, Bahrain and most Central Asian countries.
Patently rigged elections frequently lead to explosions of violence. Algeria’s bloody civil war was ignited when the military cancelled a 1991 election the opposition was set to win. Kenya suffered a bloodletting in 2008, after an apparently rigged vote in December 2007. And widespread presumption of electoral fraud is seen as contributing to the strength of extremist movements in Iraq and Afghanistan.


The U.S. does not have much influence over the situation in Nigeria. But what influence it has should be used to reduce the impunity with which that country’s political elite has been abusing its people. Responding to the announced delay on Saturday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry used strong language: “Political interference with the Independent National Election Commission is unacceptable,” he said in a statement, “and it is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext to impede the democratic process.”
Here’s hoping he’s got a team working on actions to give those words bite.

BackDatAssUp:
But it is ok to run your mouths with any lie on the presidency?

You people have no single sense.

I sometimes wonder if you are not ashamed to open that your gbegiri slurping mouth in public.

When Sanusi pulled out that blatant lie of missing money from his pile ridden stuck up royal highness my foot azz did you even pause to reason? No! Because of your wicked and evil minds you assumed it must be true.

Now that PWC has trashed that your ab0ki slave masters allegations as trash you are still talking trash.

Continue with this nonsense. When and NOT IF we pull out from this useless Nigeria maybe then una go get small sense know who the real crooks are.

Foolish people.

Your use of words is a clear evidence of the type of person you are. you need to learn to pass your messages across meaningfully like a civilized person should. The CHANGE we hail applies to you bro, CHANGE your orientation!

You saw a post of some cars without labels, banners or inscriptions, you were told it is for someone and meant for a specific purpose and you believed it right on. For God's sake just check the ridiculous comments I'm seeing here. How sure are you that these cars are for Tinubu or that he ordered for them? Any evidence whatsoever? Pls let's talk about Nigeria and the freedom it needs, then I'd be much more interested.

Hehehehe... This pic dey mak me laugh hard.

Hehehehe... This pic dey mak me laugh hard

They are highly welcome. ..

Big congrats to them.

I think he really does...

Looks too fake and unattractive to me...

Anybody who has the ability to reason would criticise the postponement, be it APC or PDP... The step is counterproductive!

Not surprised...

Just like the APC Chairman said, the move is highly provocative!

What would those that died tell God wen they get to heaven? That they were killed by their stupidify? Well, that's if it's not Satan they'd see instead. It's such a pity. My people perish for lack of knowledge...