PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Nigeria: Reactions to postponed polls get huge media play in Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Reactions to the postponement of the 14 February 2015 presidential elections captured newspaper front pages in Nigeria this week.
Barely one week to the election, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, concluded a briefing meeting with 25 civil society groups and many other stakeholders in Abuja at which he informed them that all security agencies in the country have indicated to him, in writing, that they are not available to support the elections planned for 14 and 28 February.
Jega, who had an earlier met with political parties, also parleyed with his 36 resident electoral commissioners in what amounted to an INEC position on whether to postpone or go ahead with the elections.
At the end of the marathon meetings, Jega told the world "Following security reports and the attendant problems with the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)", the election will not hold. Instead, he shifted the date to 28 March for the presidential and National Assembly polls, and 11 February for the governorship and State houses of Assembly elections.
According to Jega, security operatives from all the agencies told INEC that they were commencing a six-week special operations against Boko Haram insurgents in the north eastern corridors of the country and would rather not be distracted by the elections.
Jega announced that the security forces also indicated that the operation against Boko Haram are due to commence on 14 February, the date INEC had planned to hold the presidential and federal legislative elections.
He said "This decision, by the security forces, successfully renders INEC’s hitherto insistence to go ahead with the elections a risky venture."
"Nigeria: Knocks, Kudos Trail Postponement of General Elections", screamed the GUARDIAN, with the story saying "As mixed reactions greeted last weekend's postponement of the February general elections, a significant yearning now is that the action should not in any way affect the May 29 handover date in order to mitigate the already brewing constitutional problem.
At a news conference Sunday in Enugu, the International Organization on Sustainable Development (ISOD) tasked the INEC to use the six-week postponement period to tidy up its acts and "galvanize Nigerians who are already registered to get their permanent voter cards."
ISOD Head of Mission, Ambassador Timothy Ihemadu, said the organization supports the postponement because "the PVCs are not all in the hands of the electorate and many people will be disfranchised if the elections were so held.
"No nation at war with millions of its people displaced will go on with an election. The position is correct as long as the constitutional requirement that provides for handover of power on May 29 is not impeded."
He, however, alleged that the distribution of PVCs has been hijacked and is in the hands of ezes, emirs and obas, whose palaces have become collection points, adding also that in Lagos State, many people from the South East and South-South could not get their PVCs.
Similarly, the National Chairman of Progressive People's Alliance (PPA), Peter Ameh, expressed concern over the tension being generated by the development. He noted that it was obvious from the document developed and presented to stakeholders by INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that the commission would do better if the election date was shifted.
He warned that under no circumstance should the commission tamper with the May 29 handover date, stressing that only the handover date is sacrosanct and the shift in election date would not affect it if INEC maintains its stand.
But the Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC) has condemned the action. In an online statement by its national coordinator, Zik Gbemre, the group said that Jega's excuse that INEC took informed decision based on the advice of national security authorities on the activities of insurgents in the north was not only preposterous and unjustifiable but also laughable and unfounded.
Likewise, human rights group, Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (Centrep), describing it as "an act of desperation by the Presidency to rig and manipulate the elections.
The online PREMIUM TIMES, writing under the headline "Election postponement: March 28 must be sacrosanct, Buhari warns", reported that the presidential candidate of the Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, said on Sunday that neither he nor his party would tolerate any further postponement of the 2015 general elections.
Buhari, a former military ruler, stated this in reaction to the postponement of the general elections by INEC.
The online newspaper said Buhari called security chief’s stance an interference with INEC’s duties, a move he condemned.
“I wish to state strongly that our party will not tolerate any further interference with the electoral process,” the opposition leader said. “The rescheduled elections of March 28th and April 11th, 2015 must be sacrosanct.”
Buhari also asked his supporters to take advantage of the postponement to further mobilise support among Nigerians.
He accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of engineering the postponement to avoid defeat; but appealed for calm among his supporters.
Buhari said as a Nigerian and a presidential candidate in the elections, he shares in the disappointment and frustration of the decision.
“However, we must not allow ourselves to be tempted into taking actions that could further endanger the democratic process.
“Our country is going through a difficult time in the hands of terrorists. Any act of violence can only complicate the security challenges in the country and provide further justification to those who would want to exploit every situation to frustrate the democratic process in the face of certain defeat at the polls.
“If anything, this postponement should strengthen our resolve and commitment to rescue our country from the current economic and social collapse from this desperate band,” he said.
On his part, President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday asked Nigerians to accept the postponement of the general elections in “good faith.”
The president, in a statement by his spokesperson, Reuben Abati, also said he holds the May 29, 2015 handover date sacrosanct and remains committed to vacating office if he is not re-elected.
Meanwhile, the United States government also reacted to the postponement by expressing ‘deep’ disappointment by the decision.
A statement by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, shortly after the announcement of the poll shift by Jega, on Saturday, said political interference with INEC is unacceptable.
“It is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process,” Mr. Kerry said.
Also, lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, accused the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the military chiefs of plotting a coup against the Nigerian constitution.
Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said, “In a desperate bid to blackmail the INEC to postpone the election the NSA wrote a letter to the INEC to the effect that the armed forces could not provide security for the election because of the operations in the north east region.
“By writing directly to the INEC on the security situation in the north east region the NSA usurped the functions of the National Security Council.”
Mr. Falana added that “by causing the election to be postponed, the NSA and the security chiefs have staged a coup against the Constitution. They are liable to be prosecuted for the grave offence of treason at the appropriate time.”
The PUNCH ran its story with the headline "PDP accuses Jega of meeting APC leaders in Dubai", reporting that the PDP on Wednesday raised fresh allegations aiming at discrediting the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the conduct of the elections.
At a crowded press conference in Abuja, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that Jega had meetings with some unnamed leaders of the main opposition APC in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
But the commission said it was not in its character to join issues with political parties.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said this when contacted to react to the allegation.
Idowu said, “INEC doesn’t join issues with political parties, because the commission is a dispassionate umpire.”
Asked to provide proof about the alleged Dubai meeting, Fani-Kayode refused.
In its second story under the headline "I will hand over if I lose, says President Jonathan", the PUNCH reported that President Jonathan on Wednesday cleared the air on alleged plans to prolong his tenure, saying if the result of the March 28 presidential election does not favour him, he will hand over to whoever that wins.
Jonathan, in a live media chat apparently organised to douse the tension generated by the postponement of the general elections, spoke among others, the alleged plot to sack Jega, the Boko Haram insurgency and corruption.
Before and after the polls were shifted from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, there were rumours that the President and his PDP were nursing a sinister plot not to hand over power.
The rumours were further fuelled by statements credited to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in far away Nairobi, Kenya.
Obasanjo was quoted as saying, “I sincerely hope that the President is not going for broke and saying ‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it.”
But Jonathan told a panel of interviewers that he was not desperate to remain in power. He said such “insinuations and wrong information” were meant to discredit him by his political opponents.
Jonathan also berated those criticising him for failing to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted by terrorists in April last year.
He said he was confident that most of the girls would be rescued soon.
The President said, “I believe now that we are working with Chad and Cameroon, in the next few weeks, the story of the Chibok girls will change. It’s going to get better.
“I believe we should be able to rescue some of them. But I don’t want to be quoted, I don’t want you to say the President said so, that in two weeks time or in four weeks time, I cannot say that because the disappearance of those girls has taken quite some time.
“But we have mapped out strategies, we are working with our neighbours and we will comb all the areas. So, just give us sometime.”
The President denied that he went partying when the girls were kidnapped, saying people only tried to play politics with the matter.
On Wednesday, the GUARDIAN also wrote under the headline "Military pledges to defend democracy", saying that the military has reiterated its commitment to support the electoral process and safeguard the nation’s democracy, contrary to insinuations that there is a plan to take over government. It also warned all military personnel against seditious acts or taking steps capable of compromising democratic governance.
The assurance was contained in a statement Tuesday in Abuja by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, to douse the “palpable tension being generated in certain quarters with regards to the roles of the Nigerian military in the ongoing political activities and recent developments especially in relation to the electioneering programmes in the country.”
He said: “Nigerians and the friends of the country should be reassured that the Armed Forces believe strongly in the prospects of the country under a democratic rule and will continue to discharge its responsibility to support our democracy as constitutionally guaranteed.”
He made it clear that the citizens of the country needed to be reassured that “the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain committed to its duty in working to ensure the sustenance of peace, law, order and stability in the country before, during and after the forthcoming elections.”
He stressed that the Armed Forces would remain professional, apolitical and non-partisan in all operations or activities in the course of the process, adding that the the military was mindful of its constitutional responsibilities and would not depart from it, as it had demonstrated in previous elections.
He warned that the March polls would not be different and any of the personnel found to have taken a divergent position from the sworn oath would face the music.
The GUARDIAN also screamed "New elections dates sacrosanct, say Jonathan, Buhari".
It said that President Jonathan had assured Nigerians that the new dates announced for the general elections remain sacrosanct, as the APC presidential candidate Buhari was assuring officials of the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and European Union (EU), that the March 28 rescheduled date for the start of the general elections must be adhered to.
To the EU delegation that paid him a courtesy visit in his campaign office in Abuja, Buhari maintained that INEC no longer had any excuse to shift the polls.
The other headlines on the story were -- THISDAY "Jonathan: There Shall Be a New Govt Come May 29"; and the DAILY INDEPENDENT "I’ll hand over if I lose – Jonathan".
-0- PANA VAO 14Feb2015
Barely one week to the election, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, concluded a briefing meeting with 25 civil society groups and many other stakeholders in Abuja at which he informed them that all security agencies in the country have indicated to him, in writing, that they are not available to support the elections planned for 14 and 28 February.
Jega, who had an earlier met with political parties, also parleyed with his 36 resident electoral commissioners in what amounted to an INEC position on whether to postpone or go ahead with the elections.
At the end of the marathon meetings, Jega told the world "Following security reports and the attendant problems with the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)", the election will not hold. Instead, he shifted the date to 28 March for the presidential and National Assembly polls, and 11 February for the governorship and State houses of Assembly elections.
According to Jega, security operatives from all the agencies told INEC that they were commencing a six-week special operations against Boko Haram insurgents in the north eastern corridors of the country and would rather not be distracted by the elections.
Jega announced that the security forces also indicated that the operation against Boko Haram are due to commence on 14 February, the date INEC had planned to hold the presidential and federal legislative elections.
He said "This decision, by the security forces, successfully renders INEC’s hitherto insistence to go ahead with the elections a risky venture."
"Nigeria: Knocks, Kudos Trail Postponement of General Elections", screamed the GUARDIAN, with the story saying "As mixed reactions greeted last weekend's postponement of the February general elections, a significant yearning now is that the action should not in any way affect the May 29 handover date in order to mitigate the already brewing constitutional problem.
At a news conference Sunday in Enugu, the International Organization on Sustainable Development (ISOD) tasked the INEC to use the six-week postponement period to tidy up its acts and "galvanize Nigerians who are already registered to get their permanent voter cards."
ISOD Head of Mission, Ambassador Timothy Ihemadu, said the organization supports the postponement because "the PVCs are not all in the hands of the electorate and many people will be disfranchised if the elections were so held.
"No nation at war with millions of its people displaced will go on with an election. The position is correct as long as the constitutional requirement that provides for handover of power on May 29 is not impeded."
He, however, alleged that the distribution of PVCs has been hijacked and is in the hands of ezes, emirs and obas, whose palaces have become collection points, adding also that in Lagos State, many people from the South East and South-South could not get their PVCs.
Similarly, the National Chairman of Progressive People's Alliance (PPA), Peter Ameh, expressed concern over the tension being generated by the development. He noted that it was obvious from the document developed and presented to stakeholders by INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that the commission would do better if the election date was shifted.
He warned that under no circumstance should the commission tamper with the May 29 handover date, stressing that only the handover date is sacrosanct and the shift in election date would not affect it if INEC maintains its stand.
But the Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC) has condemned the action. In an online statement by its national coordinator, Zik Gbemre, the group said that Jega's excuse that INEC took informed decision based on the advice of national security authorities on the activities of insurgents in the north was not only preposterous and unjustifiable but also laughable and unfounded.
Likewise, human rights group, Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (Centrep), describing it as "an act of desperation by the Presidency to rig and manipulate the elections.
The online PREMIUM TIMES, writing under the headline "Election postponement: March 28 must be sacrosanct, Buhari warns", reported that the presidential candidate of the Opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, said on Sunday that neither he nor his party would tolerate any further postponement of the 2015 general elections.
Buhari, a former military ruler, stated this in reaction to the postponement of the general elections by INEC.
The online newspaper said Buhari called security chief’s stance an interference with INEC’s duties, a move he condemned.
“I wish to state strongly that our party will not tolerate any further interference with the electoral process,” the opposition leader said. “The rescheduled elections of March 28th and April 11th, 2015 must be sacrosanct.”
Buhari also asked his supporters to take advantage of the postponement to further mobilise support among Nigerians.
He accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of engineering the postponement to avoid defeat; but appealed for calm among his supporters.
Buhari said as a Nigerian and a presidential candidate in the elections, he shares in the disappointment and frustration of the decision.
“However, we must not allow ourselves to be tempted into taking actions that could further endanger the democratic process.
“Our country is going through a difficult time in the hands of terrorists. Any act of violence can only complicate the security challenges in the country and provide further justification to those who would want to exploit every situation to frustrate the democratic process in the face of certain defeat at the polls.
“If anything, this postponement should strengthen our resolve and commitment to rescue our country from the current economic and social collapse from this desperate band,” he said.
On his part, President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday asked Nigerians to accept the postponement of the general elections in “good faith.”
The president, in a statement by his spokesperson, Reuben Abati, also said he holds the May 29, 2015 handover date sacrosanct and remains committed to vacating office if he is not re-elected.
Meanwhile, the United States government also reacted to the postponement by expressing ‘deep’ disappointment by the decision.
A statement by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, shortly after the announcement of the poll shift by Jega, on Saturday, said political interference with INEC is unacceptable.
“It is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process,” Mr. Kerry said.
Also, lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, accused the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the military chiefs of plotting a coup against the Nigerian constitution.
Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said, “In a desperate bid to blackmail the INEC to postpone the election the NSA wrote a letter to the INEC to the effect that the armed forces could not provide security for the election because of the operations in the north east region.
“By writing directly to the INEC on the security situation in the north east region the NSA usurped the functions of the National Security Council.”
Mr. Falana added that “by causing the election to be postponed, the NSA and the security chiefs have staged a coup against the Constitution. They are liable to be prosecuted for the grave offence of treason at the appropriate time.”
The PUNCH ran its story with the headline "PDP accuses Jega of meeting APC leaders in Dubai", reporting that the PDP on Wednesday raised fresh allegations aiming at discrediting the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the conduct of the elections.
At a crowded press conference in Abuja, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that Jega had meetings with some unnamed leaders of the main opposition APC in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
But the commission said it was not in its character to join issues with political parties.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said this when contacted to react to the allegation.
Idowu said, “INEC doesn’t join issues with political parties, because the commission is a dispassionate umpire.”
Asked to provide proof about the alleged Dubai meeting, Fani-Kayode refused.
In its second story under the headline "I will hand over if I lose, says President Jonathan", the PUNCH reported that President Jonathan on Wednesday cleared the air on alleged plans to prolong his tenure, saying if the result of the March 28 presidential election does not favour him, he will hand over to whoever that wins.
Jonathan, in a live media chat apparently organised to douse the tension generated by the postponement of the general elections, spoke among others, the alleged plot to sack Jega, the Boko Haram insurgency and corruption.
Before and after the polls were shifted from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, there were rumours that the President and his PDP were nursing a sinister plot not to hand over power.
The rumours were further fuelled by statements credited to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in far away Nairobi, Kenya.
Obasanjo was quoted as saying, “I sincerely hope that the President is not going for broke and saying ‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it.”
But Jonathan told a panel of interviewers that he was not desperate to remain in power. He said such “insinuations and wrong information” were meant to discredit him by his political opponents.
Jonathan also berated those criticising him for failing to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted by terrorists in April last year.
He said he was confident that most of the girls would be rescued soon.
The President said, “I believe now that we are working with Chad and Cameroon, in the next few weeks, the story of the Chibok girls will change. It’s going to get better.
“I believe we should be able to rescue some of them. But I don’t want to be quoted, I don’t want you to say the President said so, that in two weeks time or in four weeks time, I cannot say that because the disappearance of those girls has taken quite some time.
“But we have mapped out strategies, we are working with our neighbours and we will comb all the areas. So, just give us sometime.”
The President denied that he went partying when the girls were kidnapped, saying people only tried to play politics with the matter.
On Wednesday, the GUARDIAN also wrote under the headline "Military pledges to defend democracy", saying that the military has reiterated its commitment to support the electoral process and safeguard the nation’s democracy, contrary to insinuations that there is a plan to take over government. It also warned all military personnel against seditious acts or taking steps capable of compromising democratic governance.
The assurance was contained in a statement Tuesday in Abuja by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, to douse the “palpable tension being generated in certain quarters with regards to the roles of the Nigerian military in the ongoing political activities and recent developments especially in relation to the electioneering programmes in the country.”
He said: “Nigerians and the friends of the country should be reassured that the Armed Forces believe strongly in the prospects of the country under a democratic rule and will continue to discharge its responsibility to support our democracy as constitutionally guaranteed.”
He made it clear that the citizens of the country needed to be reassured that “the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain committed to its duty in working to ensure the sustenance of peace, law, order and stability in the country before, during and after the forthcoming elections.”
He stressed that the Armed Forces would remain professional, apolitical and non-partisan in all operations or activities in the course of the process, adding that the the military was mindful of its constitutional responsibilities and would not depart from it, as it had demonstrated in previous elections.
He warned that the March polls would not be different and any of the personnel found to have taken a divergent position from the sworn oath would face the music.
The GUARDIAN also screamed "New elections dates sacrosanct, say Jonathan, Buhari".
It said that President Jonathan had assured Nigerians that the new dates announced for the general elections remain sacrosanct, as the APC presidential candidate Buhari was assuring officials of the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and European Union (EU), that the March 28 rescheduled date for the start of the general elections must be adhered to.
To the EU delegation that paid him a courtesy visit in his campaign office in Abuja, Buhari maintained that INEC no longer had any excuse to shift the polls.
The other headlines on the story were -- THISDAY "Jonathan: There Shall Be a New Govt Come May 29"; and the DAILY INDEPENDENT "I’ll hand over if I lose – Jonathan".
-0- PANA VAO 14Feb2015
