Election now March 28 - Jega

The INEC chairman addressed a press conference yesterday night to confirm to the nation about the election postponement.

Read the full text of his address below

STATEMENT ON THE TIMETABLE FOR 2015
GENERAL ELECTIONS BY THE CHAIRMAN,
INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL
COMMISSION (INEC), PROFESSOR ATTAHIRU M.
JEGA, AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON FEBRUARY
07th, 2015.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
We invited you here today to make known the
position of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) on the timetable for the 2015
general elections. Let me state from the outset
that the Commission’s position was reached after
carefully weighing the suggestions from briefings
held with different stakeholders in the electoral
process.
The conduct of elections in a country like Nigeria
is invariably a collective venture that involves not
just the Election Management Body (EMB), but
also a diverse range of stakeholders, notably
security agencies, political parties and their
candidates, voters, as well as interest groups,
such as the civil society organizations and the
media. To guarantee successful conduct of
elections, there are things that are wholly the
responsibility of the EMB. But there are other
things critical for the success of elections, which
fall outside the control of the EMB.
In other words, while INEC must work hard to
perfect its systems and processes for conducting
elections, and take responsibility for any
imperfections thereof, whatever the Commission
does may not by itself be sufficient to guarantee
the success of elections. There are a number of
issues in the preparation and conduct of an
election, the most critical of which is security,
which is not under the control of INEC.
Current State of INEC’s Preparedness
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, I was invited to
brief the National Council of State, which is the
highest advisory to the President comprising past
and present leaders in Nigeria, on the level of
preparedness of INEC to conduct the 2015
general elections. I made a presentation to the
Council titled ‘Preparations for the 2015 General
Elections: Progress Report,’ in which I gave a
detailed account of what the Commission has
been doing in readiness for the national elections
(National Assembly and Presidential) scheduled
for February 14th, and the state elections
(Governorship and State Assembly) scheduled for
February 28th, 2015.
The summary of my presentation to the National
Council of State meeting is that, for matters
under its control, INEC is substantially ready for
the general elections as scheduled, despite
discernible challenges being encountered with
some of its processes like the collection of
Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by registered
members of the public.
In addition, INEC has been doing everything it can
to facilitate the collection of the PVCs by
registered members of the public. As at 5th
February 2015, the total number of PVCs collected
was 45, 829, 808, representing 66.58% of the total
number of registered voters.
In the delivery and deployment of electoral
materials, INEC is also at a comfort level in its
readiness for the general elections as scheduled
(see the presentation to the Council of State).
The Commission’s preparations are not yet
perfect or fully accomplished. But our level of
preparedness, despite a few challenges, is
sufficient to conduct free, fair and credible
elections as scheduled on February 14th and
February 28th. Compared with 2011 when, within
a short time, we conducted general elections that
were universally adjudged free, fair and credible
and the best in Nigeria’s recent electoral history,
our processes are today better refined, more
robust and therefore capable of delivering even
better elections.
Other Variables
But as I mentioned earlier, there are some other
variables equally crucial for successful conduct of
the 2015 general elections that are outside the
control of INEC. One important variable is security
for the elections.
While the Commission has a very good working
relationship with all security agencies, especially
on the platform of the Inter-agency Consultative
Committee on Election Security (ICCES) since its
inception in 2010, it has become pertinent for it to
seriously consider the security advisory presented
to it by the Security and Intelligence Services. I
would like to reiterate here that INEC is an EMB
and not a security agency. It relies on the
security services to provide a safe environment for
personnel, voters, election observers and election
materials to conduct elections wherever it
deploys. Where the security services strongly
advise otherwise, it would be unconscionable of
the Commission to deploy personnel and call
voters out in such a situation.
Last Wednesday, which was a day before the
Council of State meeting, the office of the
National Security Adviser (NSA) wrote a letter to
the Commission, drawing attention to recent
developments in four Northeast states of Borno,
Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe currently experiencing
the challenge of insurgency. The letter stated that
security could not be guaranteed during the
proposed period in February for the general
elections.
This advisory was reinforced at the Council of
State meeting on Thursday where the NSA and all
the Armed Services and Intelligence Chiefs
unanimously reiterated that the safety and
security of our operations cannot be guaranteed,
and that the Security Services needed at least six
weeks within which to conclude a major military
operation against the insurgency in the Northeast;
and that during this operation, the military will be
concentrating its attention in the theatre of
operations such that they may not be able to
provide the traditional support they render to the
Police and other agencies during elections.
INEC’s Decision
We have done wide ranging consultation to enable
us have as much input as is necessary before
taking an informed decision. In the series of
consultations that we held with stakeholders, the
questions consistently posed to them for
consideration are:
(i) In view of the latest development, should INEC
proceed with the conduct of the general elections
as scheduled in spite of this strong advice; and if
so, what alternative security arrangements are
available to be put in place?
(ii) Or, should INEC take the advice and adjust
the schedules of the general elections within the
framework of Constitutional provisions?
The Commission held a meeting after the
consultations, and decided to take the advice of
the Security Chiefs and adjust the dates of the
elections. We have done this relying on Section
26(1) of the Electoral 2010 (As Amended), which
states thus: “Where a date has been appointed for
the holding of an election, and there is reason to
believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely
to occur if the election is proceeded with on that
date or it is impossible to conduct the elections
as a result of natural disasters or other
emergencies, the Commission may postpone the
election and shall in respect of the area, or areas
concerned, appoint another date for the holding of
the postponed election, provided that such reason
for the postponement is cogent and verifiable”.
INEC not being a security agency that could by
itself guarantee protection for personnel and
materials, as well as voters during elections, the
Commission cannot lightly wave off the advice by
the nation’s Security Chiefs. The Commission is
specifically concerned about the security of our ad
hoc staff who constitute at least 600,000 young
men and women, together with our regular staff,
voters, election observers as well as election
materials painstakingly acquired over the last one
and half years. This concern is limited not just to
the areas in the North-eastern part of Nigeria
experiencing insurgency; the risk of deploying
young men and women and calling people to
exercise their democratic rights in a situation
where their security cannot be guaranteed is a
most onerous responsibility. Under such
circumstances, few EMBs across the world, if any,
would contemplate proceeding with the elections
as scheduled. No matter the extent of INEC’s
preparedness, therefore, if the security of
personnel, voters, election observers and election
materials cannot be guaranteed, the life of
innocent young men and women as well the
prospects of free, fair, credible and peaceful
elections would be greatly jeopardised.
Consequently, the Commission has decided to
reschedule the 2015 general elections thus: the
national elections (i.e. Presidential and National
Assembly) are now to hold on March 28th, 2015;
while the state elections (Governorship and State
Assembly) are to hold on April 11th, 2015. It
should be noted that this rescheduling falls within
the constitutional framework for the conduct of
the elections, notably, Sections 76(2), 116(2),
132(2) and 178(2). See also Section 25 of the
Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended).
For the avoidance of doubt, we will under no
circumstances approve an arrangement that is
not in line with the provisions of our laws. Our
hope is that with this rescheduling, the security
services will do their best to ensure that the
security environment needed for safe and peaceful
conduct of the 2015 elections is rapidly put in
place.
We in INEC reassure all Nigerians and indeed the
international community of our commitment to do
everything within the law and to conduct free,
fair, credible and peaceful elections. We call on
the security agencies to honour their commitment
to restore sufficient normalcy for elections to take
place within the period of extension. We also call
on Nigerians, political parties, candidates and all
other stakeholders to accept this decision in good
faith and ensure the maintenance of peace.
As for us in INEC we’ll endeavour to use the
period of the extension to keep on perfecting our
systems and processes for conducting the best
elections in Nigeria’s history. In particular, we
believe that we would resolve all outstanding
issues related to non-collection of PVCs, which
agitate the minds of many Nigerians.
Finally, we wish to call on all Nigerians to accept
our decision, which is taken in good faith and the
best interest of deepening democracy ion our
country.
Thank you.
Professor Attahiru M. Jega, OFR
Chairman, INEC