Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC has debunked a report by Reuters on Wednesday that the commission may delay the February elections because of the challenges arising from Permanent Voters’ Cards .
Thoug Reuters quoted National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Amina Zakari, as having hinted at the probability of election shift, Kayode Idowu , chief press secretary to the Commission’s chairman,Prof.Attahiru Jega has swiftly issued a rebuttal saying the report was “misrepresents the conversation that took place at the event”.He urged the correspondent “to correct the report urgently, please.”
“I write to refute your story in Reuters attributing National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Amina Zakari, as saying that the 2015 general elections may be delayed if the number of Permanent Voter Cards collected by voters is too low”,Idowu said .
“I was at the Situation Room Dialogue with INEC in Abuja this morning and I know that the Commissioner spoke in regard of the February 8 deadline for the collection of PVCs, nothing about the schedule of the general elections.
“You said she spoke to you ‘on the sidelines’ of the event. Well, I have checked with the Commissioner and she denied that the issue discussed was the schedule of the 2015 elections. You had during the question-and-answer session at the event asked about the notably low level of collection in some states and the implication for voter turnout, which the Commission had missed out in her responses. Later ‘on the sidelines’ she explained to you that the number of PVCs already collected rates highly in comparison to the level of voter turn historically in Nigerian elections. Still, she added, INEC has not completely foreclosed the possibility of granting a few days of extension in isolated cases of low percentage of collection after February 8.
According to the INEC chairman’s CPS “The inference you’ve made for the schedule of elections is entirely yours, and misrepresents the conversation that took place at the event this morning. You will do well to correct the report urgently, please.
