Nigeria Content Online

Former governor of
Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, said that the Action Congress
(AC) is working assiduously to unseat the ruling Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP), come 2011 general elections.

Mr. Tinubu, one of
the prominent personnel of the Action Congress, while speaking to
aviation correspondents at the presidential wing of the Murtala
Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, on issues affecting the new voter
register, declared that his party will not pardon the excesses of any
political platform that tries to jeopardise the peaceful conduct of the
polls.

“As for May 29, we
are in a hurry to send away PDP. But if they have to still do their
mosquito style of election, then we will resist. We will do everything
possible to strengthen the path of democracy in this country,” he said.

Expressing his
support for a new voter register, the former governor disclosed that
Nigeria will only hold credible elections with the new register in
place, as he describes the old register as faulty and unrealistic.

“I don’t think we
can conclude that we will not have free and fair elections yet, but I
agree hundred percent that we must have a fresh voters register. A new
registry of voters that will produce reliable, very viable and
biometrically compliant voters register that will eliminate all
duplications, and all irregularities.

“This is the way to
start the beginning of the next fifty years, after the first fifty
years of Nigeria’s independence,” he said.

Mr. Tinubu
maintained that it will be a huge disgrace should Nigeria fail to
conduct smooth elections, and that the entire components of the former
registry is corrupt, as he added that the former chairman of the
Independent and National Electoral Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu,
reproduced the old voter register.

“It will be a
shameful thing to have all the professionals and the competent and
capable human resources that we have in this country if we cannot do
that (peaceful elections) for our nation. Otherwise, it will be a
disaster.

“There is no way
they can patch up what is now on ground, for you cannot plant a mango
and expect to reap corn, there is no way. Once the foundation is bad,
the entire structure will collapse. So, this voter register that they
think they will panelbeat is a record that is irreparable,” he said.

Explaining that the
current registry is impracticable, the AC stakeholder argued that the
Attahiru Jega’s administration in the electoral commission should be
given the right to have a new voter register, as he further indicted
the ex-boss of the commission.

“The software that
associated with it (current voter register) was pirated by Iwu’s
administration, let him sue me. I know the address of the Canadian
company; they didn’t pay for the software licence.

“That is why it is unworkable. You can’t panelbeat this management
to produce a reliable voter register, otherwise it’s garbage in garbage
out, from chaos to crisis and to more catastrophic consequences,” he
said.