Don't remove Jega -Northern Elders warn Jonathan

The Northern Elders Fo­rum (NEF) has warned the presidency to resist any attempt to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor At­tahiru Jega,ahead of the general election next month.

Spokesman of the forum ,Professor Ango Abdullahi gave the warning in a press conference in Bauchi yes­terday stressing that sack­ing Jega at this material time will be a recipe for disaster.

Abdullahi who was in company of Alhaji Mo­hammed Bello Kirfi (Wa­zirin Bauchi ) said:

'With regards to Jega's tenure ,any attempt at this last minute by this gov­ernment or its agency to remove Jega is a clear message that this govern­ment is determined to rig an election in which they see Jega as an impediment simply because he thinks that the commission must follow the rules for a free and fair and credible elec­tion. This is the message they should be ready to send to the world.

On the postponement of the general election, he added that for several months INEC has been consistent and emphatic on its readiness to organ­ise and conduct the 2015 elections in February say­ing the reasons given were 'flimsy, clumsy and inde­fensible'

'The NEF viewed it as unacceptable because only a small frac­tion of the security per­sonnel in the country are directly engaged in the battle against insurgency within the north east en­clave of the country.

'We also know that even in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan , Sri Lanka and more recently Afghanistan where full scale wars were still rag­ing when they decided that election could still be held and indeed were held,' he stated.

He further raised alarm that the ruling elite was hatching plans to scuttle the 2015 general election and derail the democratic institutions from function­ing to serve the needs of Nigeria…