harmeyd:
Competent sources said last night that the move to
remove Jega and the legal fireworks against Buhari,
would be taken up simultaneously with effect from
this week given the timeframe made possible by the
shift.
ABUJA — With the successful postponement of
the elections by the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, the Presidency has
launched a two-pronged war to ensure that President
Goodluck Jonathan wins the election convincingly.
Prof. Jega, Chair of INEC
The two strategies are to stop Muhammadu Buhari,
the All Progressives Congress candidate from
contesting the election with Jonathan and the
replacement of the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru
Jega, with a less independent-minded person. Jega, it
was gathered, had been described by hawks around
the president of being too independent-minded and
‘uncooperative’ despite being given the job on a
platter of gold by the president’s men.
Vanguard learnt that Jega might have unwittingly
played into the hands of the forces arrayed against
him by agreeing to shift the elections.
Legal war to disqualify Buhari
Competent sources said last night that the move to
remove Jega and the legal fireworks against Buhari,
would be taken up simultaneously with effect from
this week given the timeframe made possible by the
shift.
The retired general is to be prosecuted by a team of
legal luminaries for ‘lying on oath’ that he had a
school certificate with the Nigerian Army when he
knew that it was untrue. The plaintiffs are said to
have settled for trying Buhari for alleged ‘perjury’
instead of outright non-possession of certificate
following legal advice that the latter would be more
difficult to prove within the time at their disposal.
Vanguard learnt that although Jega reluctantly
succumbed to pressure from the Presidency and its
security chiefs to shift the polls, he might still not be
allowed by the forces to conduct the rescheduled
elections between March 28 and April 11. Vanguard
gathered from competent sources that the
Presidency was no longer comfortable with Jega and
was, therefore, working tirelessly to get him out of
the commission to pave the way for a more ‘trusted
hand’ to conduct the rescheduled elections.
It was learnt that the forces arrayed against the INEC
boss had convinced the President not to renew Jega’s
tenure, which is expected to lapse on June 13 this
year. The forces, it was learnt, felt that Jega was
rather too ‘difficult’ to deal with, having not allowed
himself to be dictated to by anyone since assuming
office like other appointees of the government.
It was learnt that in a bid to sweep off Jega from his
seat without raising any dust, he would be asked to
comply with the civil service procedure by
proceeding on his three months terminal leave with
effect from March 1, this year since he is expected to
retire on June 13.
S-West gov’s brother may replace Jega
Vanguard gathered that in his place, the Presidency
was considering bringing in another academic from
the South-West, who is currently heading a tertiary
institution in the country. The professor of Political
Science and International Relations is said to be a
sibling of a serving governor in the South-West, who
is a close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan and his
party.
Competent sources also told Vanguard last night that
although the name of the academic had been made
known in security circles, it was not clear whether the
man had been cleared by the forces with a view to
sending his name to the National Assembly for
possible confirmation, as required by law.
Working against Jonathan’s interest
As a prelude to removing Jega from office, some
close allies of the President had started accusing him
of taking side with the opposition to undermine the
success of Jonathan and his party in the next
election. Earlier last week, Jonathan’s godfather, Chief
Edwin Clark and other prominent politicians from the
Southern part of the country had accused Jega of
working against the interest of the president and the
PDP and asked him to resign from the commission.
Although no evidence was adduced by Clark and his
group to support their allegation, they nonetheless
called for the arrest of Jega. Similarly, Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin
Okupe, on Saturday, said Jega had lied about the
state of the commission’s preparedness for the
conduct of the election.
In the same vein, the National Publicity Secretary of
the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, accused INEC of working
with the opposition to deny its members of
permanent voter cards in some states. He called on
the security agents to probe the commission over the
development.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/
presidency-shops-jegas-replacement/
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