Members of the Council of State
were on Thursday divided over the
desirability of the general elections
taking place on February 14 and 28
as scheduled by the Independent
National Electoral Commission.
The disagreement which
characterised the seven-hour
meeting again played out during a
news conference addressed by
Governors Olusegun Mimiko
(Ondo); Rochas Okorocha (Imo);
and Bala Ngilari (Adamawa).
Mimiko told State House
correspondents that based on the
presentation made to the council
by the INEC Chairman, Attahiru
Jega, and the contributions of
council members, the electoral
body was advised to communicate
its position to the nation.
He said, “ The council , in its
meeting, which was close to seven
hours, essentially discussed the
state of preparedness of INEC for
the elections.
“INEC had the benefit of input from
council members and security
chiefs and relevant agencies.
“Based on the very exhaustive
discussion and pieces of advice,
INEC is constitutionally empowered
with the basis of discussions, to
brief the nation and then the news
will be communicated to you.”
When asked to be specific on
whether the elections would be
held as scheduled or would be
shifted, Mimiko said, “Like I made it
absolutely clear, I am not the INEC
chief. INEC will appropriately brief
you based on the meeting we just
had.
“INEC is going to consult widely
with stakeholders and come up
with a decision that they will brief
the nation on it soon.
“The council is essentially an
advisory body. Mr. President, in his
wisdom, invited INEC to brief us on
its state of preparedness.
“Based on what INEC said and based
on the perception of council
members and security agencies,
INEC was properly advised and you
will hear from INEC.”
Immediately after he spoke,
Mimiko, Ngilari and President
Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman,
Reuben Abati, rose and made their
ways out of the venue of the
briefing.
Apparently not satisfied with the
information released by the Ondo
State Governor, Okorocha beckoned
on them to come back, saying the
briefing was one-sided.
Mimiko, Ngilari and Abati
reluctantly returned to their seats
to listen to him.
Okorocha said after extensive
deliberation, INEC was advised to
go ahead and perform its
constitutional responsibility which
is to conduct elections.
He said, “The council advised INEC
to go and perform its civic
responsibility which is to conduct
elections.
“That is what we rose to agree; it
was a very challenging moment
and INEC has reaffirmed many times
that it was ready for the elections.
“Because of concerns of security
agencies in some few local
governments, the council asked
INEC to go and perform its civic
responsibilities, which is the
conduct of elections.”
Asked specifically if there was a
decision regarding change of date
for the polls, Okorocha said, “There
is no decision as to the change of
dates or postponement at all. But
the council has asked INEC to go
and perform its responsibility.”
When asked if APC expected the
elections to hold on the scheduled
dates, he replied, “That is what we
are expecting definitely.”
When confronted with the fact that
it appeared that the PDP and All
Progressives Congress governors
were not on the same page on the
matter going by the discord at the
news conference, the governor
said, “As usual, we will not be on
the same page on any issues of this
nature.
“It is normal that some will be for
and others will be against, but the
truth is that we looked at the
Constitution of Nigeria, that is the
only binding factor when there are
issues of disagreement.
“The Constitution guides every one
because that is the fundamental
law that guides the whole nation’s
policies.”
On the use of Permanent Voter
Cards during the elections,
Okorocha said, “The temporary
voters cards are being exchanged
for the new ones and once you
have given out your temporary
voter card, that means you don’t
have anymore.
“So they are going for the PVCs and
the PVCs would be assumed to have
been distributed before Sunday;
that was the essence of the whole
exercise and Jega has reassured us
that they are equal to the task.
“In fact, they are more prepared
than they were in 2011.”
He added that the issue of Jega’s
alleged resignation was not
discussed at the meeting.
Immediately Okorocha finished his
speech, Mimiko who was obviously
not comfortable with his
colleague’s submission, offered to
make further clarification.
He said the meeting reviewed the
challenges in the distribution of
the PVCs, card readers and security
challenges.
The governor added, “For any
avoidance of doubt, like I said, INEC
had the benefit of inputs and
perspectives from council
members.
“Issues of distribution of PVCs, card
readers, the extent of piloting to
ensure that people are familiar
with this, security issues, all of
these were discussed.
“Issues of the fact that seven days
to election, 34 per cent of Nigerians
have yet to get PVCs.
“It was a major issue that was
discussed – issue of preparedness
of security to conduct elections
nationwide, issue of the card
readers which is a new technology.
“All of these were discussed but
ultimately, council being an
advisory body, asked INEC to take
advantage of the different
perspectives of the members to
take decision about the election.”
The Progressives Governors
Forum, the umbrella body of the
APC governors, later issued a
statement in which it said that the
“council reviewed INEC’s report
and the presentation by the NSA
on the state of preparedness for
the general elections.”
It said in a five-paragraph
statement by Okorocha that Jega “
assured the council that INEC is
ready to proceed with the elections
as scheduled.”
Jega is however expected to meet
on Friday (today) with the national
commissioners and the Resident
Electoral Commissioners on
Saturday over the outcome
Council of State meeting.
After the departure of all the APC
governors, the President engaged
PDP governors in a brief meeting at
the new banquet hall.
The issues discussed and the
outcomes of the short meeting had
yet to be made public as of 8.30pm
on Thursday.
The presidential candidate of the
APC, Muhammadu Buhari, was one
of the nation’s former leaders that
attended the meeting which
started at about 11:30am.
Others included former President
Shehu Shagari; former Heads of
State – Yakubu Gowon and
Abdusalami Abubakar – and the
Head of Interim National
Government, Ernest Shonekan.
Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo was the only former
Nigerian leader absent from the
meeting presided over by
Jonathan.
Vice President Namadi Sambo, the
President of the Senate, David
Mark; the Speaker, House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal;
the Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mohammed Adoke;
the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim;
and the National Security Adviser,
Sambo Dasuki, also attended the
meeting.
A mild drama however played out
before the commencement of the
meeting when Buhari did not join
other former leaders in the
President’s office.
The tradition is that the former
leaders would converge and join
the President to arrive at the
Council Chamber venue of the
meeting together.
But Buhari, on arrival, went straight
to the Council Chamber.
It took the intervention of Anyim
and some other top government
officials for him to be prevailed
upon to join his colleagues.
At the close of the meeting, Buhari
also refused to leave the venue
with his colleagues.
He left through a different door.
Before the meeting, 10 registered
political parties had earlier
insisted that the elections must
hold.
They said that the calls by some
people, groups and 16 other
parties for the postponement of
the polls were the handiwork of
the PDP.
The 10 parties, under the aegis of
the Progressives Political Parties,
said in a joint statement signed by
their leaders in Abuja that shifting
the polls would plunge the country
into chaos.
The statement read, “We the
undersigned, on behalf of our
political parties, are shocked at the
conduct of some of our colleagues
who have joined the infamous
campaign to scuttle Nigeria’s hard-
earned democracy by calling for the
postponement of the general
election barely a week before the
election is to commence.
“We condemn, in the strongest
terms possible, this underhand and
undemocratic tactic meant to
plunge our country into anarchy, on
top of the debilitating state of
insecurity which has become
pervasive in the land.
“The call for the postponement of
the general election has nothing to
do with the preparedness of
Independent National Electoral
Commission to conduct the
election or the pace of distribution
and collection of Permanent Voter
Cards.
“INEC, the authority empowered by
law to fix the date of the election
had said, countless times, it is ready
and prepared to conduct a free, fair
and credible election on February
14 and 28 .
“As a matter of fact, Jega and his
colleagues in the commission had
stated time and time again, that
they had four years to prepare for
the election and they will deliver
better election this time round.”
But before the statement was
made public, some politicians in
Yobe State vowed to lead a
protest against the postponement
of the elections.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
