THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Sunday, bowed to pressure from stakeholders and other well-meaning Nigerians on the need to reschedule the National Assembly election earlier slated for today and re-ordered all the elections.

Addressing a world press conference, along with leaders of the registered political parties in Abuja, on Sunday, after a crucial meeting, INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, gave the new dates as Saturday April 9, National Assembly election; Saturday April 16, presidential election and Tuesday, April 26 governorship/state House of Assembly elections respectively.

Professor Jega disclosed that the commission arrived at the new dates after wide consultations with various stakeholders, including the leaders of the registered political parties and representations from well-meaning Nigerians on the need to reschedule the elections.

He explained that the commission had to re-order all the elections in order to give the polls the needed credibility the commission had been assuring Nigerians and the international community.

The INEC boss made it clear that all the leaders of registered political parties, who attended the emergency stakeholders meeting, fully supported and endorsed the new arrangement.

He said: “Yesterday [Saturday], the commission announced the rescheduling of the National Assembly election from April 2 to Monday, April 4, due to late arrival of the sensitive electoral materials needed for the elections and, since then, a lot of representations have been made on the date we chose,” adding that, people “complained that the few days in between were not enough. We had to make wide consultations with stakeholders on the way forward.”

According to him, “following the wide consultations with the appropriate stakeholders, the commission had found out that there is the need to reschedule the National Assembly election. This will, however, affect other elections; consequently, we have decided to re-order all the elections.”

Professor Jega, who apologised to all Nigerians, especially the electorate for the inconveniences the setback might have caused them, reassured that the commission would do everything possible to deliver free, fair and credible elections.

Most of the leaders of the political party, who attended the meeting, commended the Jega-led commission for responding to their agitations, saying this would further boost the confidence they had in the electoral process under Professor Jega.

In a swift reaction, the Director of Youth Affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Honourable Dare Adeleke, lauded INEC for rescheduling the elections and urged Nigerian youths not to feel disenchanted about the development, saying, “I’m appealing to Nigerian youths to take INEC’s decision in good faith and remain focused so that they can vote for the candidates of their choice, especially President Goodluck Jonathan, the Grand Commander of the Nigerian Youth at the poll.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged how the plan by Professor Jega’s INEC to merge the National Assembly and the presidential elections, originally fixed for April 9, was halted by the country’s Security Council.
At the Security Council meeting held in Abuja late Saturday night, sources confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that Professor Jega, who briefed the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan and all service chiefs in attendance, had suggested that INEC could hold the elections together since most stakeholders had rejected the choice of Monday, April 4.

It was learnt that the security chiefs immediately shot down the plan by Jega to hold the election on Monday on the basis fact that the commission had not taken time out to analyse and clear the mess it caused with the postponement of last Saturday’s election.

A source said President Jonathan was not happy with Jega that he failed to consult widely before announcing the April 4 date.

The source said the president and the security chiefs were of the view that rather than rush into the election, INEC should go and undertake a house cleaning and get back to the president on the next feasible date.

It was also learnt that the council rejected flatly the plan to combine presidential election with the National Assembly polls, because it was of the view that the presidential election was too important to be merged.

“The council was of the view that the eyes of the world are on Nigeria and that the country cannot afford to mess up on the presidential election,” the source said.

The council was said to have asked Jega to check out and ensure that all necessary documents needed for the election were in possession of the commission before going ahead to announce dates.

He was also asked to go and check with his staff on the state of things and report to the president on Sunday afternoon.

Also, as controversy continues to trail the postponement of Saturday’s National Assembly election nationwide by the INEC, representatives of the registered political parties, under the aegis of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), on Sunday, said they were not ready for a repeat of the poll on Monday, as earlier fixed by INEC.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the representatives of over 40 registered political parties insisted that they were never consulted by INEC as the major stakeholders before arriving at the new date, saying that INEC arbitrarily fixed the Monday date and announced it to the entire world before calling them for a meeting.

However, there was a mild drama as the national secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mr Buba Galadima, stormed the venue of the press conference at the Nicon Luxury Hotel and disassociated his party from the position taken by IPAC, insisting that CPC would partake in all the elections anytime the INEC decided to hold them.

Galadima said boycotting would give the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) an opportunity to allegedly rig the elections at all levels, saying that “we in CPC are ready for the polls, even if INEC says it will conduct all elections today, boycotting will give the PDP the opportunity to rig.”

This is coming just as the Director of Youths Affairs of the PDP presidential campaign council (PCC), Mr Dare Adeleke, appealed to Nigerian youths to be patient and remain focused, despite the initial setback over the postponement of the National Assembly polls.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Sunday, Adeleke, who commended the zeal and enthusiasm with which the youth turned out en masse for the polls before it was postponed, urged them not to allow themselves to be misled into causing crisis over the postponement, saying that the electoral body should be given the benefit of the doubt over the repeat of the poll.

Addressing newsmen, the IPAC chairman, Chief Osita Okereke, said they decided not to boycott the election before its postponement till Saturday, after due and broad consultations with over 40 political parties.

According to him, “broad consultations have been held with parties such as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Labour Party (LP), National Action Council (NAC), National Democratic Party (NDP), African Liberation Party, among others.

“In all, about 40 political parties were consulted, the political parties totally and completely rejected Monday, April 4, for any elections.”

Chief Okereke said it was on record that partial voting had already taken place in some states of the federation, while ballot papers and ballot boxes had been compromised, since they had been issued out before postponement.

“We totally doubt INEC’s ability to safeguard and guarantee the safety of these electoral materials now freely in circulation, bearing in mind that it was broadcast on national television that the youth corps members involved in the process were conveyed to the polling centres in private vehicles,” he said.

The parties also called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of contractors who failed to deliver the materials on time.

Chief Okereke also cited the ongoing West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examinations across the country as another reason the National Assembly election poll should not be held today, so as not to disenfranchise many student adults who were taking the examinations.

When contacted, the Director, Public Affairs of INEC, Mr Emmanuel Umenger, said the leaders of the political parties had already been invited for a meeting slated for Sunday and pleaded that the outcome of the meeting would be made public.

In another development, Senate President, Mr David Mark, has asked Nigerians to come out en masse to cast their votes on Saturday, to elect new members of the National Assembly, saying that the setback occasioned by the postponement of the exercise should be seen as a national sacrifice.

Senator Mark urged Nigerians to persevere and exhibit a high level of patriotism in the exercise, to ensure that the elections reflected the wishes of the nation.

He was optimistic that the INEC would rise to the occasion after the shortcomings that necessitated the postponement and conduct free, fair and credible elections.

According to him, “this is a temporary setback. It will test our resilience and perseverance as a people determined to chart the right course for our generation and those yet unborn. I believe that if we get it right this time, we would have laid a solid foundation that would be built upon by successive administrations and people.”

He, therefore, counselled the electoral umpire not to leave anything to chance again.

Meanwhile, a cross section of lawyers, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, said the postponement of the election by the INEC by one week is in order, going by the Electoral Act 2010.
According to them, Section 26 (1) of the Electoral Act provided for post-ponement of election.

The section read in part: “... the commission may postpone the election and shall, in respect of the postponed election, pro-vided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”

On the number days between election and handling over, they further submitted that the one week extension was still in line with the Electoral Act provision.

They added that Section 25(1)(2) stated that elections into elective positions shall not be earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the House stands dissolved...”

In his submission, Ricky Tarfa, said INEC was expected to regularise its earlier timetable to fit in into the new arrangement, adding that those contra-ctors who breached the contract of supplying the election materials should be sanctioned for throwing the country into ransom.

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