Jega’s sack will jeopardise democracy – ACN

THE Action Congress of Nigeria has said if the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, resigns, it will have a negative effect on the nation’s electoral process and “put democracy in jeopardy.” The party, however, said it was not surprised that the calls for Jega’s resignation had heightened since the botched National Assembly election on Saturday. In a statement in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was shocked by the poor preparation by INEC for the 2011 general elections, as reflected in Saturday’s setback. The ACN believed the one-week postponement should give the commission enough time to rectify the problems identified during the ill-fated poll and be able to give Nigerians free, fair and credible elections. Mohammed said, “We do not believe that any excuse can justify the embarrassment to which the nation was subjected to on Saturday. “In fact, we were among the first to condemn the failure and also reject the move to hold the National Assembly election today (Monday). However, we align with those who said it required a lot of courage on the part of Prof. Jega to stop the process when it became obvious things were not going well, and to also personally take responsibility for the failure. That is rare in thise clime. “In fact, we will like to note that if what happened on Saturday had occurred under Prof. Maurice Iwu, the election would have continued and the results would have been collated and announced, with or without result sheets.” The party argued that though, the postponment was “unfortunate and inexcusable,” it should not translate to calls for Prof. Jega to resign or be sacked. The ACN said, “Some of those instigating the calls are not even doing so for patriotic reasons. In fact, we have it on good authority that die-hard election riggers are not comfortable with Jega as INEC chairman, since they see him as a stumbling block to their fraudulent plans, hence would not mind getting rid of him by all means. “We also know that massive pressure is being mounted on INEC to jettison the modified open ballot system and replace it with the secret ballot system, which some unscrupulous parties see as a better system for them to perpetrate their rigging plans. We say no to this, and warn that any attempt to get rid of Jega and replace him with a pliable INEC Chairman will be resisted,” ACN said. By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch