The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has ruled out any postponement of the February elections as suggested by Col Sambo Dasuki, National Secuirty Adviser ( NSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jega said Friday that the February 14 date for the conduct of presidential election remains sacrosanct and that it would be conducted with only the Permanent Voter Cards for the integrity of the election.
Dasuki advised for the delay next month’s elections to give organisers more time to distribute millions of biometric ID cards to voters.
dasuki said he had told the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law would be a good idea.
But Jega said at a workshop on: “Mitigation of Violence In Election,” held in Abuja on Friday that the commission was not thinking about that.
The INEC chief described the call for the use of the temporary voter cards as a drawback, saying that
the Commission couldnot be blamed for people who refused to come out and collect their Permanent Voters Cards, which were produced and sent to various collection points across the country.
He pointed out that regardless of the challenges so far confronting the commission, INEC has not reviewed the timetable for the general elections.
His words: “I don’t want to comment on this.
“Like everybody, we read it in the papers.
“I, myself, many things have been attributed to me, which I know I didn’t say.
“So, until I can confirm and get clarification, it will be premature for me at this public event to start saying anything.
“In any case, what I communicate is the commission’s position and the commission has not discussed this matter and taken a position on it.
“So, I want to be more patient on this.
“I cannot comment on this for now.”
Jega noted that the commission had released the election timetable for February 14 about a year ago and has been vigorously working to meet with the date.
Jega assured Nigerians that the commission was committed to distributing all the PVCs in its possession.
He explained that the commission has continued to produce PVCs to meet the 68 million registered voters already captured and certified to be genuine.
He revealed that about four million cards were received on Thursday.
The INEC Chairman identified Edo, Rivers, Bauchi, Plateau and Imo States as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory as areas prone to violence because of post-primary elections and frustrations associated with the PVCs distribution.
