EXPOSED: GEJ Using Boko Haram To Retain Power; Bribes To Postpone For Opposition Finances To Dry Up

Despite the decision of the National Council of States that the 2015 elections should go on as scheduled there is mounting pressure on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, to postpone the election by six weeks and there are indications that he may likely bow to the pressure, which sources close to him say he has been overwhelmed by.

The Council of State, after a marathon meeting that began at about 11:30am and ended at about 7:30pm on Thursday, urged INEC to proceed with its assignment of conducting the 2015 general elections scheduled to begin on February 14, 2015. The development followed the insistence of the electoral body that it was fully prepared for the polls on the grounds that 65 per cent of Nigerians had received their permanent voter cards (PVCs).

A highly placed INEC official told LEADERSHIP Weekend yesterday that despite Jega’s assurances that the commission was ready for the election and his insistence that the election must go on, he was, however, now worried that some top officials of INEC who had stood by him that the election should go on were now changing their position in a manner that suggested that they may have been bought over by those pushing for the election shift, hence, may sabotage the measures put in place to conduct the polls successfully.

According to sources, the proponents of election shift, working in cohorts with highly placed security advisers in the presidency have been engaged in subtle blackmail of the INEC chairman, citing the security situation, particularly in the north eastern part of the country and nationwide tension as reasons why the elections must not go on.

The sources told LEADERSHIP Weekend that security forces, had categorically told Jega that they could not guarantee security for the conduct of the election at this time, saying he would be responsible for whatever outcome if he insists on going ahead.

It was further gathered that President Goodluck Jonathan had in a meeting with a visiting group, said he had no problem with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen Muhammadu Buhari, but expressed worry over four people around Buhari, namely Rivers State governor and director general of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai.

Sources close to the presidency further hinted that the plan of the ruling party is to postpone the election in the hope that the postponement would provoke unrest that would lead to the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency and in the event that this fails, the long period before the new election date would wear out the financial resources of the opposition.