• Meeting with RECs deadlocked
A meeting took place yesterday between electoral commission chief Attahiru Jega and state poll officials.
The National Assembly election, now set for Saturday, has already been postponed twice due to widespread organisational problems. The second delay also pushed back presidential and state polls that are due to follow.
Parliamentary polls, originally scheduled for last Saturday, were later moved to Monday, and finally deferred until April 9.
Major problems became clear Saturday morning, with large numbers of polling places without materials and personnel.
Voting had already begun in some areas on Saturday when Jega pulled the plug. Ballots used in those areas must now be secured and replaced, while other materials, including result sheets, must be distributed.
There were also claims of mistakes on a large number of ballots that must be corrected.
This month’s landmark polls are being viewed as a critical test of whether Africa’s largest oil producer, also the continent’s most populous nation, can organise a credible ballot after a history of election fraud and violence.
Presidential elections are set for April 16, while governorship and state assembly polls are to be held April 26.
The emergency closed-door meeting lasted nine grueling hours, yet, Jega and his 36 resident electoral commissioners ended in a deadlock.
Yesterday’s meeting was, in part, convened to address the widespread logistic glitches that marred the botched National Assembly polls initially scheduled for April 2.
Jega was reportedly overwhelmed by different negative reports from the RECs on the level of logistic readiness, prompting him to defer a planned press briefing.
Jega, who was initially scheduled to make an address, called it off following the meetings’ inability to trash out the contending issues. INEC’s director of public affairs, Emmanuel Umengar, said the briefing had been shifted to Thursday (tomorrow).
“Far-reaching decisions were made at the meeting…There are certain outstanding issues that have to be trashed out between now and Thursday so that the commission will be in a much better position to give information,” Umengar said while announcing the postponement.
At the end of the meeting, it was expected that the INEC chairman would confirm wide spread speculation on a further postponement of the elections.
Jega’s chief press secretary Idowu said: “There were never any case that were mentioned. The understanding is that there were logistic problems that will be addressed and if for any reason there is a decision to be taken concerning constituencies, the chairman will let you know by Thursday.
“The meeting is entirely about preparations for the elections both in terms of material that were not available on Saturday and in terms of lapses that were observed and which have now been addressed.”
Kayode said the commission was determined to prevent a re-occurrence of the logistic glitches.
“Materials have been deployed to the states and those materials are there for further deployment to the polling units. That will be done in the next few days.”
Answering questions from newsmen on the rumoured resignation of the INEC chairman, Kayode said , “We don’t speak on rumours here, we speak on facts, we don’t react to rumours.”
Discussed at the meeting was a report of several RECS and the critical lapses ahead of the elections.
A document made available to LEADERSHIP detailed shortfall of materials, including stamp pad, liquid gum, voting cubicles, lamps, calculators and identity cards. It also addressed the omission of party logos and non-availability of the names of registered voters’ cards on the voters register.
In brief, the document states:
ZAMFARA: We are yet to receive Forms EC8B, EC8B1, EC8c, EC8D, EC8D1, EC8E, EC8E1.
KWARA: Outstanding problems include shortage of 261, 000 ballot senatorial papers for Kwara Central; 186, 737 for Kwara South and Forms EC8C1, EC8E1 were not available. Omission of DPP logo and double ACN logo on Ekiti/Isin/Irepodun federal constituency ballot paper. Fund for NASS election has been exhausted. If these are not addressed, level of preparations is negative.
DELTA: Balance of ballot papers required in three federal constituencies are : FC/084/DT, shortfall of 15 cartons, FC/085/DT, shortfall of 6 cartons, FC/086/DT, shortfall of 8 cartons. Please address urgently.
OSUN: We have the following shortfalls in the number of result sheets: EC8B, 12 sets, EC8D, 3 sets, EC8E, 3 sets. House of Reps Forms EC8B1, 332 sets, EC8c1, 30 sets, EC8D1, 19 sets, EC8E1, 9 sets along with 2210 pieces of Presiding Officer stamps, 362 pieces of Collation Officer stamps and 12 pieces of Returning Officer stamps. The level of preparedness is negative in view of the above.
YOBE: In Yobe, all the necessary materials are on ground except for shortage of ballot papers which we can distribute in percentages. We are still awaiting Form EC8E1 for the National assembly elections.
ANAMBRA: We have considerable shortfall in the number of result sheets and we have used up some ballot papers. Besides, the ballot papers for House of Reps do not have Accord Party logo. As a result, we are not ready for tomorrow’s elections.
KOGI: All ballot papers for the Senatorial elections and all the EC Forms (ie result sheets) are not yet available at this time.
Amidst the fears of political uncertainty in Nigeria, the United States government has promised to help the country by providing adequate technical assistance for INEC.
Speaking on the 2011 general elections in the country, United States assistant secretary on African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, said that United States government was prepared to provide technical assistance to Nigeria’s electoral commission provided INEC demonstrates a willingness to fulfil its primary role of strengthening election administration.
The top United States diplomat on African Issues continued that the United States has been supporting electoral reform in Nigeria by printing out Electoral Reform Commission recommendations for distribution by Nigerian organisations, as well as by organising symposiums, seminars and other activities on the issue.
“Along with encouraging electoral reform, Carson warned that “endemic corruption” has been a major factor in preventing U.S. private-sector investment, and that poor governance has played an even greater role in the disconnect between the country’s wealth in natural resources, as Africa’s largest oil producer, and the poverty of its people.
“Let me be clear, our friendship and relationship with Nigeria is strong and continues to be based on a wide range of important bilateral issues,” Johnnie Carson said.
Condemning the “chronic politically motivated, inter-religious violence” in the Nigerian state of Plateau, Carson urged all sides to “address the hostility between religious and ethnic groups and bring perpetrators of such acts to justice.”
The tensions in northern Nigeria “have religious overtones and are perceived by outsiders as fighting between Christians and Muslims,” he said. But “the real conflict is one of politics,” and he urged Nigerian political leaders to recognise this and work with national religious leaders to promote a dialogue to peacefully resolve the issues.
blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8936474146611941053
• US promises technical assistance
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday raised the possibility of another delay of parliamentary polls in some parts of the country if logistic problems cannot be solved before this weekend.“It’s only in principle as agreed with political parties last Sunday that wherever -- and these are extremely few -- the lapse can’t be effectively redressed by Saturday, the poll may be slightly deferred,” electoral commission spokesman Kayode Idowu said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
have something interesting to say? We'd love to hear your input.