Don’t delay polls, 26 parties tell INEC

INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega all the 26 registered political parties in the country on Tuesday in Abuja asked the Independent National Electoral Commission not to postpone the forthcoming general elections slated for February.The Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (the body of the registered parties), Mr. Yunusa Tanko, stated this in Abuja on Tuesday.Tanko spoke against the agitation by some people who were asking the electoral body to shift the elections by, at least, one month.Those calling for the postponement were basing their argument on the premise that the electoral body had not been able to give all voters their Permanent Voter Cards.Speaking with journalists at the quarterly meeting of INEC with the leadership of the registered political parties ahead of the general elections, Tanko declared that all the political parties were ready and fully prepared for the polls.He said there was no valid reason for the call for the postponement, adding that all the registered political parties were already on the field canvassing for votes.He also added that a lot of human and material resources had been committed towards having successful elections in the country.Tanko said, “As we speak, INEC has not come out to tell us that the elections will be shifted; INEC has been carrying the registered political parties along in all the preparations for the February polls.“Though there may be challenges in the area of distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards, that is not enough to postpone the elections. To us, it remains an agitation and we are not in support of the idea.”Tanko, however, urged INEC to approach the Federal Government for possible declaration of a public holiday to enable all eligible voters who were yet to collect their PVCs to do so before the elections.This action, he said, would be more honourable than postponing the elections under the pretext of non-collection of PVCs.Speaking on the pockets of political violence trailing the campaigns of the leading political parties in thecountry despite the Abuja Peace Accord signed by the 14 presidential candidates, Tanko said that the IPAC condemned the violence acts in strong terms.He said that a committee had been set up to monitor the activities of all political parties, saying that IPAC would not hesitate to take legal action against defaulting political parties and their members.Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress has demanded a concrete statement from INEC on the February dates for the elections.It also warned that no one should interfere with the conduct of the elections.Speaking to journalists at the meeting, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who represented the APC at the meeting, warned that his party was not prepared to tolerate any excuses.He said, “First of all, we want INEC to make a statement, a very clear statement that the dates 14th and 28th are sacrosanct. No one should interfere with the conduct of the election on the 14 and 28 of February.“We want INEC to double its efforts to make sure that all voters get their PVCs before the elections. We want INEC to improve on voter education but we will play our role and I hope other parties will also do the same thing.”In his opening remarks, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, reassured the political parties and Nigerians that the commission was determined not only to conduct free, fair and credible elections, but violence-free polls.He also reinstated the commission’s determination to ensure that the forthcoming elections would be better than the 2011 poll.Jega was also positive that the commission would overcome its challenges before the February elections.He said, “I want to use this opportunity to assure all of you that as we promised Nigerians, we are working assiduously to ensure that we prepare adequately and that we conduct elections that are free, fair, credible and peaceful in 2015.“I want to also assure you that we are committed to ensuring that the elections we will conduct will be remarkable; very much better than those we conducted in 2011.“We believe that even though there may be challenges, such as the distribution of the PVCs, we feel confident that with the measures and mechanisms that we have put in place, these challenges are challenges that we can overcome. We shall overcome them well in advance.”