IPA kicks against plot to remove Jega

Popular Itsekiri Socio-Political group, Itsekiri Patriotic Alliance, IPA has strongly kicked against alleged plot to force Chairman of Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega out of office, stressing that the move will be vehemently resisted.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Warri, IPA Chairman, Erefoluwa Keka, declared that the group decided to caution against any clandestine move to pressure the INEC boss to proceed on compulsory leave with effect from March before the Presidential poll, “because experience has shown that speculations in Nigeria, particularly issues affecting conduct of elections often turn out to be true”.

According to the statement, if the excuse of insecurity in the North East given for the postponement of the elections from February to March 28 and April 11 is to be taken seriously, then coercing Jega out of office to allegedly pave the way for another Chairman in the highly anticipated polls, “may worsen the security situation in the country and have grave implications on our democracy”.

IPA admonished political parties to tread softly in their quest for power, insisting that it is only logical to allow Prof. Attahiru Jega to oversee the conduct of the forthcoming polls and “not to give room for an upstart to abruptly truncate the entire electioneering process”.

While wondering the rationale behind shifting the polls for six weeks over insecurity that has bedeviled the North Eastern part of the country for over five years, the Itsekiri group tasked INEC to brace up to the challenges ahead in terms of distribution of PVCs and other logistics arrangement so as to ensure a free, fair and credible polls that will be acceptable both within the country and the international community.

×