Political Parties rise against Rumoured Jega’s Sack
The Coalition of Progressive Political Parties, which is an umbrella of Twelve political parties in Nigeria has kicked against the rumoured plan to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega before the 2015 General Elections are held.
The parties which include the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), African Peoples Alliance (APA), Kowa Party (KOWA), Mega Progressive People’s Party (MPPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC), released a statement jointly signed by their national chairmen and presidential candidates on Tuesday in Abuja.
The spokesman of the group, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, who is also the National chairman of PDM, said that they would regard the proposed removal of Prof Jega, whose tenure expires in June, as rumour as the news remained unconfirmed.
“The composition of the current INEC leadership must not be undermined or tampered with as this will constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine the election itself and influence its outcome.”
Ibrahim also said the group was disappointed by INEC’s decision to postpone elections despite denial by the commission when the postponement was first mentioned in the UK, by the NSA, who stated the low number of distribution and collection of PVCs and the fear of disenfranchisement of eligible voters, as their reasons.
He said: “This time around, the NSA disingenuously offered a different reason totally unrelated to the first. ‘New developments’ related to the insurgency raging in the North East and the inability of the armed forces to provide security
for the election arising there from.
”The NSA, then, on behalf of the Service Chiefs, asked INEC to ‘reschedule’ the elections for at least the next six weeks in the first instance, to enable the armed forces secure the areas affected by the insurgency for the elections to hold.”
Other members of the group are Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), United Progressive Party (UPP), Accord Party (AP), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Congress for
Democratic Change (CDC).
