briefing in Washington DC when members of an
American pre-election mission disputed claims by
two Nigerian security chiefs that their delegation
endorsed postponement of the elections.
Giving updates on preparations for the re-
scheduled elections, Ambassador Ayodele Oke,
Director-General of the National Intelligence
Agency, and Rear-Admiral Gabriel E. Okoi, Director
of Defence Intelligence, said the Nigerian
government has overcome most of the security
and logistic problems that led to the postponement
of the election.
Mr. Oke said the election delay was occasioned by
incidences of criminal violence, widespread tension
and Boko Haram insurgency, which were occurring
in tandem with considerable shortfall in the
electoral calendar.
“INEC was having challenges with regards to the
distribution of permanent voter cards (PVCs)”, he
said, “ While another important tool, the card reader
machine were not fully yet tested and deployed”
across the country.
Speaking on the insurgency, Mr. Okoi confirmed
that Boko Haram effectively controlled 14 local
government areas in the run-up to February 14,
the day elections were scheduled to commence.
The terrorists’ threat virtually pre-empted any form
of electoral activity in the occupied areas, the
intelligence chiefs said.
“Consequently INEC, after robust consultation with
key stakeholders, deferred the elections by six
weeks in accordance with constitutional
provisions”
Re-emphasizing the gravity of the conditions that
led to the decision to postpone the elections, Mr.
Oke said that “that when the election was
postponed, the NDI and IRI who are both on the
ground issued a joint statement which
corroborated and gave fuller explanation as to the
reason why INEC took the decision it took,” adding
that the statement is on their website.
But speaking after the security chiefs’
presentations, representatives of the National
Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International
Republican Institute (IRI), who were present at the
event, took an exception to Nigerian officials’
representation of their statement.
Former US assistant secretary of state for African
Affairs, Ambassador George Moose, said “nothing
in the statement justified postponement”.
Mr. Moose led the eight-person joint pre-election
assessment mission that visited Nigeria January
15-20, this year.
He said while the delegation’s statement recounted
the prevailing conditions of the electoral process
and specific challenges to the polls, it did not
recommend any change to the electoral calendar.
On the contrary, the delegation expressed “concern
that postponement would increase post-election
risks” . Other members of the NDI, IRI delegation
spoke in the same vein.
it will be recalled that President Goodluck
Jonathan has admitted that he never spoke with
the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI via telephone,
as claimed last week by Nigeria’s foreign affairs
ministry
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