Anxiety Trails Jega's Meeting With The RECs

There are indications that some Resident Electoral
Commissioners might pass a vote of no
confidence in the Independent Electoral
Commission (INEC) boss, Prof. Attahiru Jega.


Punch reports that the INEC chairman is expected
to meet with the RECs tomorrow, Wednesday 4th of
March, 2015. The meeting is meant to analyze the
rate at which the Permanent Voter Cards by
registered voters have been collected, especially in
Boko Haram bereaved communities.
However, it was made known that the no
confidence vote might act as a starter to the
removal of Jega by the Federal Government.
According to a top member of the commission, the
RECs that are backing the plot to remove Jega are
known government apologists.
“The meeting on Wednesday is most likely to be
stormy. I say this because some resident
commissioners are plotting to move against our
chairman. They may pass a no confidence vote in
him. But the chairman enjoys strong backing in the
commission. Any plan to pass a vote of no
confidence in him will not work,” he said.
The anonymous source further made it known that
INEC had noted the success recorded by the
military in the North-East, particularly some
communities recaptured from Boko Haram. He said
that some internally displaced persons in Borno
and Adamawa states had started returning to their
communities.
The source said that before the communities were
recaptured, INEC had made provision for the IDPs
to vote in their camps. He explained that with
some of them returning to their communities, the
commission would reconsider its initial plan.
The source said, “Besides the reports we will get
from security agencies, RECs from those areas will
brief us on Wednesday on the situation in the
communities. We will also get update on the
collection of PVCs.”
Following the rescheduling of the general elections,
INEC on February 8 extended the deadline for
collection of PVCs to March 8. When contacted, the
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman,
Kayode Idowu, said that Nigerians should be
encouraged to collect their PVCs.
Declining on commenting about agenda for
Wednesday meeting, Idowu said that the number of
those who had collected their PVCs had increased
to 55,079,365 which is 80.02 per cent.
On what INEC would do for people returning to
recaptured communities, he said, “It is too early to
say. The commission has planned to conduct
voting for the IDPs in safer areas within their
states. But if they are no longer displaced as we
get closer to the election date, the commission will
have to address that.”
However, when asked to comment on fears that the
meeting might be used by pro-government RECs
to pass a vote of no confidence in his boss, Idowu
replied, “That is one conversation I will not get into
please.”
Recall that just few days ago,
three legal practitioners have dragged the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
before a Federal High Court in Lagos State. The
plaintiffs sued the electoral commission over the
nationwide epileptic distribution of Permanent Voter
Cards (PVCs).