Anxiety Trails Jega's Meeting With The RECs

There are indications that some Resident Electoral Commissioners might pass a vote of no confidence in the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) boss, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega

Punch reports that the INEC chairman is expected to meet with the RECs tomorrow, Wednesday 4th of March, 2015. The meeting is meant to analyze the rate at which the Permanent Voter Cards by registered voters have been collected, especially in Boko Haram bereaved communities.

However, it was made known that the no confidence vote might act as a starter to the removal of Jega by the Federal Government. According to a top member of the commission, the RECs that are backing the plot to remove Jega are known government apologists.

“The meeting on Wednesday is most likely to be stormy. I say this because some resident commissioners are plotting to move against our chairman. They may pass a no confidence vote in him. But the chairman enjoys strong backing in the commission. Any plan to pass a vote of no confidence in him will not work,” he said.

The anonymous source further made it known that INEC had noted the success recorded by the military in the North-East, particularly some communities recaptured from Boko Haram. He said that some internally displaced persons in Borno and Adamawa states had started returning to their communities.

The source said that before the communities were recaptured, INEC had made provision for the IDPs to vote in their camps. He explained that with some of them returning to their communities, the commission would reconsider its initial plan.

The source said: “Besides the reports we will get from security agencies, RECs from those areas will brief us on Wednesday on the situation in the communities. We will also get update on the collection of PVCs.”

Following the rescheduling of the general elections, INEC on February 8 extended the deadline for collection of PVCs to March 8. When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman,   Kayode Idowu, said that Nigerians should be encouraged to collect their PVCs.

Declining on commenting about agenda for Wednesday meeting, Idowu said that the number of those who had collected their PVCs had increased to 55,079,365 which is 80.02 per cent.

On what INEC would do for people returning to recaptured communities, he said: “It is too early to say. The commission has planned to conduct voting for the IDPs in safer areas within their states. But if they are no longer displaced as we get closer to the election date, the commission will have to address that.”

However, when asked to comment on fears that the meeting might be used by pro-government RECs to pass a vote of no confidence in his boss, Idowu replied, “That is one conversation I will not get into please.”