With the 2015 elections just around the corner, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has spoken up on his alleged plan to resign.
The INEC boss however, denied the allegations that he is under pressure to resign.
Jega made this known at a town hall meeting organized by REINVENT Media and some stakeholders in Abuja today, March 16, 2015.
Speaking with newsmen, Jega said the protests and calls for his resignation by some groups would not discourage the commission from delivering a free and fair election to Nigerians.
In his words: “I have heard of the several calls for me to be removed. In fact, am aware that some groups have been protesting. Well, I have a job to do and I will do it. Nobody has asked me to resign and all of us at INEC are focused on ensuring that this election is free and fair”.
The INEC boss also added that the commission had put in place measures to prevent multiple voting in the elections.
Jega said the time lapse between the accreditation and voting exercise was aimed at restricting movement of voters from one polling unit to the other and also ensuring that people would not vote more than once.
“Multiple voting is unfortunately the factor that has bedeviled many voting exercises in Nigeria. This problem is posed by politicians, who pay voters to vote many times or plan to snatch ballot boxes once the voting exercise starts.
“But the time lapse will ensure that voting takes place and ends in the various polling units at the same time and voters, who want to engage in this fraudulent acts will not be able to move around”.
He finally blamed political parties in the country for dodging their responsibility of sensitizing the public on the need for them to collect their PVCs, saying they were also stakeholders in the electoral process.
“Many usually think it’s only INEC that should be sensitizing people that they need to collect their PVCs but this is not correct. Political parties have the mandate and responsibility to sensitise voters to pick their PVCs because, if people collect or do not collect, it will affect their electoral fortunes,” he stated.
