THE foggy atmosphere in the polity appeared far from being cleared as the meeting of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ended last night without concrete resolutions. The meeting was called to address the twice-postponed National Assembly election.
The meeting, which lasted more than eight hours, the longest since the life of the current management of the commission was held with Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries from across the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It began at about 10.30 am and lasted up to 6.45 p.m.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega was to address the media after the behind the door meeting, an unusual development. Officials said the development was to give the officers unfettered access to critically bare their mind on the real reasons that led to the bungling of the Saturday’s National Assembly polls.
It was learnt that the forum became an avenue for most of the RECs to put on the table what has always been in the public domain — the fact that the Jega-led administration allegedly tended not to carry them along, especially in carrying out critical decisions concerning the commission, a policy that is alien to INEC structure.
Because of the weighty nature of the discussion, the session was conducted in two phases, as it had to break for 30 minutes at 2 p.m for lunch. The first phase, it was gathered, was used to receive briefing from all the RECs on state-by state basis. And after the return from the recess, the meeting continued with issues arising from the briefings, after which Jega was to address media by at 5 p.m.
But at the appointed time, neither Jega nor any of his officials was on hand for the briefing until about 6.30 p.m., when words went round that the briefing was going to take place. With the television cameras and other gadgets set, the Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger and Jega’s Chief Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu, walked into the Media Centre and announced that the chairman was no longer going to brief as promised, that the briefing had been deferred till Thursday, (tomorrow).
But they initially were reluctant to offer the reasons why the briefing was put off till tomorrow, but under pressure from the journalists, Idowu said the meeting actually addressed logistics problems associated with the botched National Assembly elections.
According to him, “the meeting is entirely about preparations for the elections, both in terms of the materials that were not available last Saturday and in terms of the lapses that were observed, which have now been addressed. Those decisions have been taken and the people will now go back to implement them.”
Asked to clear the air on reports that the elections might be further postponed in some states, Idowu said that there were logistical problems that needed to be addressed and that if for any reason there was a decision to be taken concerning constituencies, it would be made public by the chairman at the appropriate time. He barked out, “Who told you where elections would not hold?”
Idowu said the commission had decided along with the RECs that the election of Saturday will not have the kind of hitches that were observed. Like the issue of transportation, for instance, has been addressed; the issue of supply of the materials has been addressed and all those things will be implemented in the field by the field officers. Those are the decisions that were taken.
He confirmed that all the materials for the Saturday’s elections were not only on ground, but have been deployed to the states and those materials were there for further deployment to the polling units, which would be done soon.
Idowu however, parried a question on the rumoured resignation of his boss, saying: “We don’t respond to rumours, but we speak of facts.”
Meanwhile, national secretaries of some political parties rose from their meeting yesterday with a plea to Nigerians to give INEC a second chance. The meeting was to deliberate on the current political situation in Nigeria, with the aim of coming with opinions to solidifying the democratic process in the country
The officials who met under the aegis of the Forum of National Secretaries of Political Parties, in a statement by their Protem Secretary, Hamisu Santuraki believed that though unfortunate, the postponement of the National Assembly’s elections from April 2 to the April 9 was necessary and in the best interest of consolidating the electoral process in the country.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayThe meeting, which lasted more than eight hours, the longest since the life of the current management of the commission was held with Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries from across the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It began at about 10.30 am and lasted up to 6.45 p.m.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega was to address the media after the behind the door meeting, an unusual development. Officials said the development was to give the officers unfettered access to critically bare their mind on the real reasons that led to the bungling of the Saturday’s National Assembly polls.
It was learnt that the forum became an avenue for most of the RECs to put on the table what has always been in the public domain — the fact that the Jega-led administration allegedly tended not to carry them along, especially in carrying out critical decisions concerning the commission, a policy that is alien to INEC structure.
Because of the weighty nature of the discussion, the session was conducted in two phases, as it had to break for 30 minutes at 2 p.m for lunch. The first phase, it was gathered, was used to receive briefing from all the RECs on state-by state basis. And after the return from the recess, the meeting continued with issues arising from the briefings, after which Jega was to address media by at 5 p.m.
But at the appointed time, neither Jega nor any of his officials was on hand for the briefing until about 6.30 p.m., when words went round that the briefing was going to take place. With the television cameras and other gadgets set, the Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger and Jega’s Chief Press Secretary, Kayode Idowu, walked into the Media Centre and announced that the chairman was no longer going to brief as promised, that the briefing had been deferred till Thursday, (tomorrow).
But they initially were reluctant to offer the reasons why the briefing was put off till tomorrow, but under pressure from the journalists, Idowu said the meeting actually addressed logistics problems associated with the botched National Assembly elections.
According to him, “the meeting is entirely about preparations for the elections, both in terms of the materials that were not available last Saturday and in terms of the lapses that were observed, which have now been addressed. Those decisions have been taken and the people will now go back to implement them.”
Asked to clear the air on reports that the elections might be further postponed in some states, Idowu said that there were logistical problems that needed to be addressed and that if for any reason there was a decision to be taken concerning constituencies, it would be made public by the chairman at the appropriate time. He barked out, “Who told you where elections would not hold?”
Idowu said the commission had decided along with the RECs that the election of Saturday will not have the kind of hitches that were observed. Like the issue of transportation, for instance, has been addressed; the issue of supply of the materials has been addressed and all those things will be implemented in the field by the field officers. Those are the decisions that were taken.
He confirmed that all the materials for the Saturday’s elections were not only on ground, but have been deployed to the states and those materials were there for further deployment to the polling units, which would be done soon.
Idowu however, parried a question on the rumoured resignation of his boss, saying: “We don’t respond to rumours, but we speak of facts.”
Meanwhile, national secretaries of some political parties rose from their meeting yesterday with a plea to Nigerians to give INEC a second chance. The meeting was to deliberate on the current political situation in Nigeria, with the aim of coming with opinions to solidifying the democratic process in the country
The officials who met under the aegis of the Forum of National Secretaries of Political Parties, in a statement by their Protem Secretary, Hamisu Santuraki believed that though unfortunate, the postponement of the National Assembly’s elections from April 2 to the April 9 was necessary and in the best interest of consolidating the electoral process in the country.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Sir is my pleasure to introduces our services to your corporate organization.
ReplyDeleteEuromaster Technician Nigeria Enterprises is a registered incorporation in Nigeria
we are into kitching equipment services both for domestic and industrial use
such as gas cooker, heat extractor, stock pot we also supply
any kind of kitchen and domestic use.
We will be looking forward of receiving your respond sir.
yours faithfully,
Euromaster Technical Nigeria Enterprises 2348032629293