JEGA AND THE 2015 STRAGY Mark Debo Taiwo Professor Attahiru Jega, the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is in the news again. This time, he is not in the news on the dexterity with which he discharged his responsibility dispassionately during recent governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states; the INEC boss is in the news for tactically laying the technical structure which may put the North at a political advantage over the South in forthcoming elections. The electoral body, under Jega, recently created new 30,000 voting units in Nigeria, giving 21,000 to the North, and a meagre 8,000 to the South. If, with all the clean-up exercise that was carried out by INEC to get rid of ghost voters a couple of years ago, then one might find it hard to see logic in what the electoral umpire had just done by creating more polling units. In 2011, about 70 million voters emerged, but after the clean-up exercise, the figure crashed to fewer than 60 million voters; so giving 21,000 new polling units to the North brings about suspicion on the intention of Jega. Is it another plot by the North to make sure power shifts back to the region? If Zamfara State that had 2,045,131 voters in 2011, now has 1,130,245, and is still allocated with about 1,000 polling units, while the whole of South East, is given just 1,167 polling units, then this speaks volume of a grand design by the North to wrestle power by all means come 2015. The plot had been surreptitiously executed in the selection of the federal directors for INEC, and yet, nobody is raising objection to this lopsidedness, nor is there a cry of marginalisation. The majority of INEC’s top officials are from the North; Colonel Hamanga from Adamawa State, North East, in charge of logistics; Dr Nuru Yakubu, Yobe State, North East, in charge of Operations; Amb. Wali from Sokoto State, North West, in charge of Procurement; Prof Jega from Kebbi State, North West, in charge of Finance and General Purpose, also in charge of ICT department; while Hajia Amina Zakari from Jigawa State, North West, in charge of Political Monitoring; and finally Amb Oniyangi, Kogi State, from North Central, in charge of Human Resources. All of the directors who are policy formulators at the national level are also all from the North, with only Ambassador Oniyangi, who is a Yoruba from Kogi. There is no federal character input in the selection of these very important stakeholders in INEC. This has invariably opened our eyes to their 2015 election game plans, more so by the allocation of these new dubious polling units. With total numbers of 20,715 polling units for the North and 8,414 polling units for the South, then the entire North will be having 10,807,500 eligible voters during next year’s election, against the entire South voters with just 4,206,000 eligible voters. This singular action of Professor Jega has revealed the plan of some powerful people to decide who wins next year’s election. Again, the North West alone is allocated with 7,905 polling units, while the entire zones in the South have just 8,414 units, including Lagos, which has the highest numbers of eligible voters. It is amusing that the North East, which is already a theatre of war as a result of the Boko-Haram insurgency, which has caused heavy human and material devastation, resulting in a mass exodus of people into various refugee camps in Cameroon, Niger, and many of them in the Southern part of the country, is still being allocated 5,291 polling units, against the peaceful South-South which has just 3,087 units and South East, 1,167 polling units; altogether, both Southern regions have 4,254 units. It is equally unbelievable for INEC to allocate 6,318 units to North Central and allocate South West with just 4,160 units including Lagos, while FCT, with 1,200 new polling units, is more than the whole of South Eastern region with just 1,167 new polling units. With these analyses, it is now possible for the North to determine who wins the coming elections. If we are to go by the new INEC polling units, we will be having 150,000 polling units, with 500 voters expected at a polling unit; this will make the total eligible voters to be 75 million, against the actual figure which is below 60 million voters that emerged after the clean up exercise. The question now is: What is Prof Jega and INEC up to in the coming election by creating these new polling units? Are we also sure of a credible election in 2015? I have my doubts, and the earlier we talk, the better. https://facebook/groups/paff.789/ Paffcomm paffcomm TO WATCH NIGERIA TELEVISION LIVE AND VIDEOS AND NEWS ON HAPPENINGS IN NIGERIA AND AROUND THE WORLD GO TO. Paffcomm world news television https://facebook/pages/Paffcomm-world-news-television/788694787860922
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 07:08:38 +0000