Members of the National Assembly on Friday kicked
against the call by the National Security Adviser, Col.
Sambo Dasuki (retd), that the February 14 general
elections should be shifted to give the Independent
National Electoral Commission time to distribute over
30 million outstanding permanent voter cards.
The lawmakers said the postponement of the elections
would lead the country to constitutional crisis.
The House of Representatives spokesperson, Mr. Zakari
Mohammed, said the House would not back any
proposal to shift the polls.
He said, "The call for postponement of the elections is
a decoy for third term agenda and as a House of the
Nigerian people, we will resist it.
"There is nowhere in the world where 100 per cent of
registered voters must vote in an election.
"It will be a breach of the constitution to postpone the
polls by whatever guise. This is a ploy and we know
where it is coming from."
Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, also said
postponing the elections would not serve the interest
of the country.
Ogor said if insufficient PVCs was the major reason
Dasuki cited for the call for the postponement of the
elections, INEC should admit those with temporary
voter cards to vote in line with a resolution recently
passed by the House.
He said, "INEC should speak up and tell us the way
forward instead of keeping Nigerians in suspense.
"Let voters use TVCs and PVCs in line with the position
already taken by the House. No eligible voter should
be disenfranchised."
The House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
also described the call for postponement of the polls
as a trap for third term agenda.
Gbajabiamila had moved the motion asking INEC to
allow the use of TVCs since it was apparent that many
voters might not get the PVCs before February 14.
He said shifting the polls was a ploy for third term
agenda which he warned would be resisted by
Nigerians.
"The NSA has no role to play in the distribution of
PVCs," Gbajabiamila said.
The same sentiments were shared in the Senate, where
senators asked INEC to go ahead with the poll.
The Senator representing Oyo South, Olufemi
Lanlehin, said non-distribution of the outstanding
PVCs was not enough reason to call for the elections
postponement.
He said, "It is true that INEC has not performed up to
the task concerning PVCs distribution. The situation
affects all and sundry; it affects political parties and
every geo-political zone. So, it is not as if it is only one
particular region or group that is affected.
"The election should not be postponed for whatever
reason. Since the issuance of PVC affects region, the
result of the election will not affect any part of the
country adversely than others. No part of the country
would have advantage above another. So, the call for
the postponement is unacceptable based on the
reasons given."
Similarly, the Senator representing Plateau South,
Victor Lar, said the elections should be conducted
because the number of registered voters is substantial.
He said, "The issue of elections is a constitutional
provision. The constitution has clearly stipulated that
at least not more than 90 days to the expiration of the
tenure. So, the February 14 elections should be
conducted.
"We must also realise that the issue of security is a
serious matter. The number of registered voters is
substantial. It is for the National Assembly to decide
either to suspend the elections or not."
Also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ecology and
Environment, Dr. Bukola Saraki, asked Nigerians to
reject attempts to postpone the polls.
Saraki, who spoke at a campaign rally in Fufu, the
headquarters of Ilorin South Local Government Area
of Kwara State, asked lovers of democracy to prevail
on the Federal Government that the elections were
held as scheduled.
In the same vein, the Conference of Nigerian Political
Parties has stated that the reason adduced by the NSA
to call for the elections postponement was puerile and
dummy meant to deceive the international
community as well as portray Nigeria in bad light.
In a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Osita
Okechukwu, the CNPP said over 60 per cent PVCs had
been collected nationwide by anxious Nigerians
yearning to participate in the February 14 polls.
The statement read, "CNPP is worried that NSA has
joined some anti-democrats to plant land mines to
scuttle our Nigeria's fledgling democracy.
"Dasuki's statement clearly exposed his gross
incompetence in his primary mandate to secure the
country; hence the Boko Haram insurgents escalated
since his appointment on 22nd June, 2012."
The Buhari Support Organisation also agreed that the
consequence of the postponement of the polls could
be disastrous.
The group said in Abuja on Friday that the shift would
be tantamount to rigging.
The Head, (Media, Information Management and ICT)
in BSO, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, who spoke at a press
briefing entitled: "February 14: A date with History",
appealed to the international community to prevail on
President Goodluck Jonathan to abide with the Abuja
Accord sponsored by two world reputable men of
peace: former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr.
Kofi Annan and former Commonwealth Secretary-
General, Mr. Emeka Anyaoku.
He said, "It is expected that the NSA should be
conversant with the security implications of his call
that the elections should be postponed.
"We condemn such provocative and crisis-prone
statement from such a top government official."
However, INEC on Friday foreclosed shifting the polls.
The electoral body said February 14 remains a valid
date for the presidential election irrespective of the
challenges confronting it.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said at a
workshop on "Mitigation of violence in election" in
Abuja that at no time had the commission sat down to
review the date of the election in spite of the
challenges confronting the PVCs distribution.
He recalled that the commission released the
timetable for the poll about a year ago and has been
vigorously working to abide by the date.
Responding to the NSA's call for the postponement of
the elections, Jega said, "I don't want to comment on
this. Like everybody we read it in the papers.
"In any case whatever I communicate is the INEC's
position and the commission has not discussed this
matter and taken a position on it."
Jega reiterated the INEC's position that the elections
would be conducted with only the PVCs which he said
had been tested and proved to be valid.
He added that the PVCs would be distributed till
February 13.
"Therefore, anyone calling for the use of the
temporary voter cards in the February elections is
only drawing us back," he said.
Jega, however identified the Federal Capital Territory,
Edo, Rivers, Bauchi, Plateau and Imo states as places
prone to violence on the ground of the outcome of
the primaries conducted in the state.
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