Following the postponement of this year’s general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the electoral body charged with conducting the elections, now slated for March 28 and April11 for Presidential/ National Assembly and gubernatorial/ states Houses of Assembly respectively, the electoral body has been carpeted as incompetent.
According to Mr. Dipo Okeyomi, a staunch member of the Lagos Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who made the observation, the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has lost credibility by allowing hi s commission to be manipulated by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
He described the action of the INEC, which he said, was being controlled by President Jonathan to postpone the elections, contrary to the wishes of the Nigerians, who were ready for the elections.
Okeyomi, who is a chairmanship aspirant into the Ojokoro Local Council Development Area in Lagos, accused the President of stooping low to truncate democracy by his recent action of election postponement saying, “For the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), service chiefs, including Chief of Army Staff, General Minimah to cite security reasons, which the President keyed into as reason for the election postponement was in bad taste.”
According to the security expert, the actions of these powerful government officials were reprehensible; and he accused the President of losing total control of power of the presidency
He said. “How can the NSA and service chiefs be dictating to the President? It means that the man has simply lost control of his government. What is happening in Nigeria in this case can never happen in the United States of America and other developed democracies.
He said his party is fully prepared for the elections, adding that the APC’s presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s apex leadership were ready to face the electorate and win the presidential and other elections.
He said he has enunciated a blueprint, including empowerment programmes and employing close to 1000 Lagosians in his first 100 days in office, if he wins the forthcoming local council election in his domain.
He lauded the efforts of the governors of the APC-controlled states, including Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Edo for laying a solid foundation for infrastructure, manpower and agriculture, saying that their total commitment to transparency and rule of law has been their hallmarks and for which none of them has ever been a guest of the anti-graft agencies, including Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
