REVEALED: February 14 elections may be shifted if voter card distribution too low-INEC

Nigeria may delay its Feb. 14 presidential elections if the number of permanent voters cards, PVC the electoral commission (INEC) can distribute by Feb. 8 is too low, an electoral commissioner told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Let's see how the PVC (permanent voter card) distribution goes by Feb 8, then maybe," Amina Zachary, a commissioner for the Independent Nigerian Electoral Committee said on the sidelines of a news conference, when asked whether or not the date could be changed.

She made it clear that no decision had been taken.

INEC extended its deadline for voters to collect their cards to Feb 8, but only 44 million out of 68.8 million have been distributed so far, with just 10 days to go before the poll.

It would be recalled that the INEC chairman has insisted that the polls would go on as scheduled as the commission is set to conduct the polls.  

However,  there are indications that the calls for the postponement of this month’s general elections may be discussed during Thursday’s (tomorrow) Council of State meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The   council   consists of the President, the Vice-President, all former Presidents or ex-Heads of State, all former Chief Justices of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, all state governors and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

One of the key responsibilities of the body is to advise the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to the Independent National Electoral Commission, including the appointments of members of the commission.

Proponents of the polls’ shift had hinged it on the inability of INEC to distribute enough Permanent Voter Cards to registered voters. The call is widely believed to be engineered by the Presidency, which though had denied the charge.

INEC had however insisted that there would be no postponement of the elections.

The PUNCH however learnt from a Presidency official in Abuja on Tuesday that the Council of State   would review the preparations for the elections by INEC and the relevant security agencies.

He said   that information available to the government   showed that contrary to the claims by the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the commission was not yet ready for the elections.

For example, the official claimed that INEC only awarded the contract for the printing of ballot papers for the February 14 presidential election last Monday.

He wondered how the ballot papers would be made ready before February 14 which is the     first day of the polls.

The official said, “The truth of the matter is that if urgent step is not taken, Prof. Jega may end up ridiculing this country.

“Available information shows that the commission is not set for this election contrary to Jega’s claim.

“We learnt he actually summoned a meeting recently with a view to postponing the election but he is scared of the opposition who have been kicking against such.

“This Thursday (tomorrow) meeting will definitely review INEC’s preparations and take a stand.”

Another Presidency source also informed The PUNCH that Jonathan might use the opportunity provided by   the meeting to garner support for the postponement of the polls.

“The Presidency is not resting on its oars concerning the plan to shift the elections. It is already in talks with some members of the council,” he said.

On what the Presidency would do if the plan fails, he replied, “we would opt for another plan, which is to return to the drawing board; plan a new strategy on how to deal with our opponents.”

To underscore the importance Jonathan attaches to the meeting, his re-election campaign rally earlier billed to hold on Thursday in Yenagoa, the capital of his home state, Bayelsa, has been put on hold.

It was gathered that the rally might hold later in the day if the meeting ended on time or be   shifted to Friday.

The PUNCH has however learnt that some of the   proponents of election postponement might have perfected plan to ensure that Jega did not return as INEC chairman if their plan materialises.

A week-long investigation by one of our correspondents showed that the Presidency was waiting patiently for INEC to yield to the pressure   before coming out with its real plan for Jega.

It was gathered that the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party were not ready for the elections and believed that their chances could be affected if the elections were held as scheduled.

Because of this,   the Presidency, backed by some hawks in the PDP, are said to be waiting for an auspicious time to ask the INEC chairman to   proceed on terminal leave. His tenure ends on June 9, 2015.

The PDP source said,     “The plan is to discredit the election by forcing postponement. When this is done, sponsored people and groups would start asking for the sack of Jega.

“At this point, the government would then say because of this, he should proceed on terminal leave and then ask the most senior national commissioner to take over and conduct the election.”