The Chairman, Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, said that though his commission was putting in place adequate resources to make the 2015 elections a tremendous success, his greatest challenge is the attitude of the political class.
Speaking at a National Stakeholders’ Forum on Elections organised by the Civil Society Situation Room on Achieving the Implementation of Credible 2015 general elections, Jega said his greatest fear for the 2015 elections was making politicians to play by the rules.
He said: ”Attitude of the political class is the greatest challenge. They want to intimidate, harass and induce,” he lamented.
He said that investigation conducted by the commission showed that Corps members who were engaged were threatened by politicians to either collect gratification or be killed.
He therefore called on politicians to play by the rules of the game during the 2015 elections.
Jega said that the commission had identified and blocked many of the loopholes exploited in the past by politicians to rig elections.
He said: “I am confident that 2015 will be better operationally and logistically. We have in place now a better voters register while all ballot boxes and ballot papers were being numbered serially.”
This, he said, was not so when he was appointed in 2010.
Jega said that upon assumption of office, he discovered that many basic things that could lead to credible elections had not been put in place and that his team had to start afresh.
He said that security remained a challenge even as he said all security agencies had come together to address this challenge.
He said: “Security is also a challenge especially in the three states in North East. We cannot put our men and resources at risk. But we are having an inter-agencies security meetings going on frequently.
