The crises in the wake of the aborted National Assembly elections almost came to a head late Saturday night when a frustrated Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] chairman Professor Attahiru Jega offered to resign at a heated meeting of the National Security Council chaired by President Jonathan at the Aso Rock Villa, government sources revealed yesterday.
According to our sources, top security officials at the meeting angrily blamed Jega for the problems that led to the election’s failure. Most of them accused Jega of arrogantly rejecting the offer to use the military for election logistics. He then said the government should constitute a military task force to take over all election logistics.
At a point during the bitter exchanges, the INEC chairman offered to resign immediately. Sources from the meeting said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke intervened and said a resignation by the chairman in the midst of elections will amount to treason, whereupon, President Jonathan rejected the resignation offer there and then.
Other agency reports reveal that the decision to further postpone the elections became inevitable when INEC’s commissioners in the field expressed fears that they may also encounter difficulties remobilising their polling officers at short notice. Besides, there were problems of mix-ups and omissions in the ballot papers of some areas that need to be reprinted in order for those areas to participate in the elections. For example, in Gombe Central senatorial district, CPC’s name and logo were omitted from the ballot paper, while the codes for Gombe North and South senatorial districts were mixed up.
According to our sources, top security officials at the meeting angrily blamed Jega for the problems that led to the election’s failure. Most of them accused Jega of arrogantly rejecting the offer to use the military for election logistics. He then said the government should constitute a military task force to take over all election logistics.
At a point during the bitter exchanges, the INEC chairman offered to resign immediately. Sources from the meeting said Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke intervened and said a resignation by the chairman in the midst of elections will amount to treason, whereupon, President Jonathan rejected the resignation offer there and then.
Other agency reports reveal that the decision to further postpone the elections became inevitable when INEC’s commissioners in the field expressed fears that they may also encounter difficulties remobilising their polling officers at short notice. Besides, there were problems of mix-ups and omissions in the ballot papers of some areas that need to be reprinted in order for those areas to participate in the elections. For example, in Gombe Central senatorial district, CPC’s name and logo were omitted from the ballot paper, while the codes for Gombe North and South senatorial districts were mixed up.
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