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The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye, in an interview with Daily Independent, said while the election would go ahead as scheduled tomorrow, Saturday February 23rd, the commission would not risk the lives of its officials and ad-hoc staff by posting them to areas where their safety could not be guaranteed.

“We wonâ€t just move ad-hoc staff arbitrarily to places where we believe they are very vulnerable or places we believe that if we deploy them to, they are likely to come to harm. We have been working with the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security to map out places that we regard as flashpoints, places that have serious problems of insurgency and places that we have camps of IDPs.

“Wherever it is impossible to conduct elections and the security agencies are saying they cannot protect those areas, of course we wonâ€t conduct elections in those areas. The implication is that it is either the people are completely displaced or partially displaced. It is not as if we are oblivious of some of the security challenges but we are working with all of these organs and the resident electoral commissioners in these states that have challenges of insecurity are in touch with all the critical stakeholders in terms of where it is possible to conduct elections and places where it is impossible to conduct elections, or where the registration areas have to be moved or adjusted to make sure that people vote.”

“Wherever it is possible for people to vote, we will make sure that the people are not disenfranchised. So, we are determined to make sure that every eligible Nigerian votes in this election unless it becomes practically impossible to conduct elections in some places, in which case the registration areas will be adjusted to enable people to vote. Wherever it is secure to conduct elections, weâ€ll conduct elections in those areas.” he said

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Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has promised automatic employment for corps members who do well on election duty.

Speaking at the daily briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, the INEC chairman said the commission will definitely reward excellence in the conduct of this yearâ€s elections.

Responding to questions on the welfare of corps members seen sleeping on the floor the night before the postpones elections, Yakubu said he has spoken to the director general of the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC) on how to improve the wellbeing of the corps members.

“The youth corps members are among the most educated, most reliable, most patriotic, and most readily available ad-hoc staff we have… so we donâ€t joke with the wellbeing of corps members,” Yakubu said.

“Arising from my interaction with DG NYSC yesterday, they are looking at how they can mobilise mattresses, used by the youth corps members in camp to places where the youth corps members are going to stay the night so that the layover before we open the polling units on Saturday can be more comfortable for them.

“I am waiting for the DG NYSC to submit the details to the commission, but I want to assure you that anything that the commission can do to make the corps members comfortable, and all other staff, including their welfare and security, we will do.”

AUTOMATIC EMPLOYMENT

The professor also promised automatic employment for corps members who do exceptionally well in the delivery of their election duties.

“Those who do exceptionally well during elections are accorded automatic employment by the commission. We would continue to improve on the welfare of corps members during elections and do whatever we can to protect them in the course of election duty.

He added that the commission has been working with the security agencies to provide protection even at the corperâ€s lodges across the nation.

He said in the past, these lodges were raided when the corps members were not around, and stole their personal effects.

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While addressing party leaders, President Muhammadu Buhari said he has directed security agencies to secure the nooks and crannies of the country and ensure that nobody disrupts the elections. He added that anybody who tries to Snatch ballot box or disrupts the elections is doing so at the expenses of his or her life.

Reacting to the statement, the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary and Director, Media & Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, Kola Ologbondiyan, argued that Buhari and APC are out to truncate democracy.

THE FULL PDP STATEMENT:

Buhari, APC Out to Truncate Democracy – PDP …Rejects Buhariâ€s Directives To INEC to Reshuffle RECs

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alerts Nigerians that the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) plot to trigger widespread political crisis to derail our democratic process and plunge our nation into anarchy. The PDP says President Muhammadu Buhariâ€s threat to the lives of Nigerians, at the opening of APCâ€s national caucus meeting in Abuja today, is a direct call for jungle justice and attempt to divert public attention from their closed session where details of their dastardly plot to truncate our democratic process will be perfected. We do hope that this call by President Buhari is not a camouflage for the fake soldiers mobilized by the APC to shoot at innocent Nigerians, snatch ballot boxes and execute their rigging plans on the election day.

It is indeed a license to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilized nation. The underlining fact to the above is that President Buhari and APC leaders, upon getting to their voting constituencies last Saturday, realized that there is a nationwide rejection of Buhariâ€s re-election bid, and this has thrown them into a panic mode. President Buhari must however bear in mind that his resort to threats and scaremongering will not deter Nigerians from coming out en-masse to vote him out of office on February 23.

We are aware that President Buhari, who had earlier boasted that nobody can ‘unseat†him, is bent on using every dictatorial and tyrannical act to truncate the process of a free, fair and credible election. Intelligence available to us shows that the Buhari Presidency has directed the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately reshuffle the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in order to deploy compromised officials to manipulate the electoral process in President Buhariâ€s favor, as they did with the police shortly before February 16. Our party is also aware of the pressure being mounted by the Buhari Presidency on INEC to cancel elections in some states and make others inconclusive so as to achieve President Buhariâ€s objectives of a staggered election not minding the crisis such will trigger across the federation. We want Nigerians and the international community to hold President Buhari personally responsible for any electoral crisis, otherwise he will as usual, claim that he was not aware of the plots and transfer the blame to Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi.

It is already known that President Buhari has been unrelenting in his attempts to subdue our democracy by trying to subjugate the legislature, emasculate the judiciary and seize control of the electoral umpire. Nevertheless, the PDP wants to assure President Buhari that our nation is bigger than him and that Nigerians will never allow him and the APC to rig this election. Nigerians have reach an irreversible democratic consensus to vote Buhari out and elect the Peoples Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is ready to rescue our nation from the hardship, anguish, agony and bloodletting which the Buhari administration has plunged us.

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President Muhammadu Buhari released a statement in the aftermath of the postponement of the General Elections. In the Statement, President Buhari expressed disappointment over the decision of the electoral umpire to postpone the elections.

“I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.

“Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered. INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them. This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.

“We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates. While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.

“I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development. I have decided to move back to Abuja to ensure that the 14.00 hrs meeting called by INEC with all stakeholders is successful.”

The President has since returned to Abuja for a briefing by the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu.

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