I will not resign, Jega insists

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega on Monday declared that he has a job to do and will not resign as chairman of the commission.

Jega who disclosed this at a town hall meeting, rejected calls for his resignation by some supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, saying he has no reason to resign.

“There has been speculation about my removal. As far as I’m concerned, I have a job to do and have no reason to resign.”

Some supporters of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC and PDP on Monday morning took to the streets of Lagos, calling on the INEC chairman to resign for allegedly introducing electronic voting card readers.

Jega also confirmed the fire at the INEC office in Abuja at the weekend, saying “on Saturday night, there was a fire outbreak in one of our stores due to a spark after power was restored.

“No election materials relating to the 2015 general election was affected in the fire.”

On the purported court order obtained by a political group, the Young Democratic Party, YDP, asking INEC to include it in the ballot papers, Jega stated: “YDP wanted to be registered as a political party, we didn’t register them because we had sufficient legal grounds not to. YDP officials went round to say the court told INEC to put them on the ballot and the court declared there was no such judgement.”

Jega also spoke on multiple registration by would-be voters, saying “If you register more than once, we remove the multiple data and leave one. A voter won’t be disenfranchised because he registered twice.

Before 2011 elections, we ran data on AFIS to get rid of multiple registrants. We have removed over four million people.”

On the issue of fake voters cards, the INEC boss stated: “Nigerians should be confident that cloned cards cannot be used. The card readers wil not read cloned cards. Card readers will be configured according to polling units. You can only vote where you registered.”

On internally displaced persons, Jega stated: “We have no time or resources to organise elections for all IDPs in Nigeria. All IDPs in the 3 North Eastern states will be able to vote. We’ve found suitable locations in and out of IDP camps for easy access and participation in the election.”

On the PVCs that have been produced, Jega confirmed: “As I speak with you, there are 68.8m registered voters and we have produced 67m PVCs.”

On the use of soldiers during the election, Jega stated: “There will be no soldiers at the polling unit. The army is not supposed to be visible at any polling units.”