Reps Warn Against Jega’s Removal

The House of Representatives has warned against an alleged plot by the Presidency to sack the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, ahead of the rescheduled general elections.

The House consequently resolved, at its plenary yesterday, to hold accountable in Nigerian courts or the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC) in Netherlands, any person or organisation that disrupts the operations of the electoral body, including what it called the “unconstitutional attempt” to remove its chairman from office.

The lawmakers also warned that there was imminent danger associated with any alteration or interference with the planned March 28 and April 11 election dates in the country, hence it urged the federal and state governments, security agencies and the political class to heed the warning in order to avoid a repeat of the 2011 post-election violence.

The resolutions were sequel to a motion sponsored by Hon. Ali Ahmad (APC, Kwara) “on threat to further tamper with the status quo for the 2015 general elections,” where he alleged that there were plans to remove Jega.

However, attempt by Deputy House Leader Leo Ogor to stop the House from entertaining the motion was thwarted by Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Ogor had claimed that the motion was “totally speculative” and should be thrown away.

Hon. Ahmad, in his arguments, said that the initial postponement of the general elections for six weeks due to security concerns related to the Boko Haram insurgency had further heightened the threat of pre-election violence.

“Any such deliberately induced violence may snowball – as it did in 2011 post- election period – into widespread or systematic attack, persecution, arson and murder, thereby amounting to serious crimes of concern to the international community, as contained in Article 5 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to which Nigeria is a signatory,” Ahmad said.

The lawmaker further alleged, in his submission, that there were threats and insinuations to precipitate actions that would cause further alteration to the status quo and regulation of the general elections, adding that such threats to tamper with the status quo may take several forms, including, but not limited to, illegal removal of the current INEC chairman.

“Such removal will be unconstitutional, given the decision of the Supreme Court that the removal of chairman or members of such an independent electoral body as INEC, pursuant to S.157 (1) of the Constitution, can only be achieved when two things happen, viz: (a) his inability to discharge the functions of the office, or (b) he is guilty of misconduct, as determined by 2/3 majority of the Senate (Governor of Kwara State v. Ojibara 2007),” he affirmed.

When the motion was put to a voice vote by the Speaker, it was unanimously supported by members.


I Won’t Sack Jega, Jonathan insists

But President Goodluck Jonathan has reassured Nigerians and the international community that he has no plan to sack Jega ahead of the general elections slated for March 28 and April 11.

Jonathan’s reassurance came amid speculations that the federal government, through the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, was plotting to send Jega on terminal leave before the elections.

The president reiterated this position on Monday while speaking in an interview with a cable news outfit, Aljazeera.

He stated that INEC was a sensitive and important institution and that removing its chairman arbitrarily would spark public outcry.

“You cannot change an officer, except the person has done something wrong.

Government, whether at the federal or state level, does not wake up and change somebody, especially somebody like the INEC chairman, except that person has done something wrong,” he explained. (Leadership)