Resigning’ll amount to disservice to Nigerians, says Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has denied allegations that he is under pressure to resign.

“I have a job to do and it would be a disservice to Nigerians for me to resign,” Jega told a town hall meeting in Abuja on Monday.

He also gave assurance that voters whose fingerprints might not be recognised by card readers would be allowed to vote after they must have filled incident forms.

The INEC boss said that protests and calls by some groups for his resignation would not deter him and his team from delivering free and fair elections to Nigerians.

He said, “I have heard of the several calls for me to be removed. In fact, I am aware that some groups have been protesting. Well, I have a job to do and I will do it. Nobody has asked me to resign and all of us at INEC are focused on ensuring that this election is free and fair.”

Jega assured Nigerians that INEC had put in place, some stringent measures to prevent multiple voting in the elections.

Jega said that the time lapse between the accreditation and voting exercise was aimed at restricting movement of voters from one polling unit to the other and also ensuring that people did not vote more than once.

He said, “Multiple voting is unfortunately the factor that has bedevilled many voting exercises in Nigeria.This problem is posed by politicians who pay voters to vote many times or plan to snatch ballot boxes once the voting exercise starts.

“But the time lapse will ensure that voting takes place and ends in the various polling units at the same time and voters who want to engage in this fraudulent act will not be able to move around.”

Jega blamed political parties for shirking their responsibility of sensitising the public to the need for them to collect their PVCs.

He said, “ Many usually think it is only INEC that should be sensitising people that they need to collect their PVCs but this is not correct. Political parties have the mandate and responsibility to sensitise voters to pick their PVCs because, if people collect or do not collect, it will affect their electoral fortunes.”