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Sensitive election
materials, including ballot papers and result sheets to be used in the
National Assembly election will be delivered to polling centres by
commercial transporters, NEXT has learnt.

The materials will be deployed to respective areas at least 24 hours before the hugely-anticipated elections on Saturday.

The April 9
rescheduled parliamentary elections is deemed critical to the
credibility of subsequent elections, as well as the well-battered image
of the commission which plunged further after Saturday’s cancellation
of the national assembly election. It will expectably also shape the
future of the Attahiru Jega’s leadership of the electoral body.

“If he fails this
time, there will be no other option for him than to leave; it is make
or mar,” said Victor Umeh, who chairs the All Progressive Grand
Alliance (APGA).

Though much of last
week’s failure had been blamed on late arrival of the materials from
foreign vendors, the commission yesterday acknowledged that part of its
troubles – though it said this was to a lesser extent – was scarcity of
vehicles that could convey materials and officials to voting spots.

In areas where
accreditation and voting took place across the country, officials
arrived aboard city buses and cars; while in some places, materials
were reportedly transported with personal cars.

Yet, a N600million
contract for the purchase of more than 500 Hilux pickup vans, meant to
deal with the situation, was awarded months ago. The delivery had also
been delayed, along with the election materials.

Mr. Jega’s
spokesperson, Kayode Idowu, said yesterday that 530 vans finally
arrived in Nigeria this week. This highlighted the tenuous planning
structure the commission maintained in the weeks ahead of the botched
election, while it sustained assurances of normalcy in the open.

The vehicles, some
of which were sighted around the commission’s headquarters in Abuja,
are being dispatched to the states ahead of the elections on Saturday
and the final ones will arrive the various states latest Thursday, he
said.

Vet the transporters

But to pick up the
slack, the commission formally sanctioned the use of “screened and
vetted” transporters to augment its vehicles in delivering the
materials and staff.

“Last week,
adequate transportation arrangement may not have been made, but now I
believe Saturday will be different,” Mr. Idowu said.

“It cannot be
possible for INEC alone to have vehicles that will cover the 120,000
polling units. The RECs have directives to engage transporters, but
they should be vetted and well screened.”

Part of decisions
reached with the Resident Electoral Commissioners on Tuesday, NEXT was
informed yesterday, was that the ballot papers and the result sheets
are to be moved to their respective areas at least 24 hours before
elections. This is a measure which the commission hopes will almost
completely eradicate incidence of late arrival of materials for
accreditation, which is due to commence by 8am.

“The commission is taking adequate measures to contain the hitches
that arose from transportation and logistics deficiencies on Saturday,”
Mr Idowu said.

President Goodluck
Jonathan has appealed to religious leaders in the country to pray for a
successful conduct of the forthcoming general elections, in view of the
activities of “desperate politicians” who are ready to kill for
political gains.

He made this call
yesterday when he received the 2010 Hajj operations report presented to
him by the head of the federal government delegation and Amirul Hajj,
the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, at the Council Chamber
of the State House, Abuja.

“This is a period
that we require your prayers more because we have individuals sometimes
that are quite desperate and who want to kill, who want to maim people
because of political office,” Mr. Jonathan said.

“There is nothing
Allah can’t do. Your prayers will help to reduce these excesses of some
of us who are politicians. I believe that the religious leaders have
roles to play in shaping our polity and you can admonish us to keep
away from politics of tribalism, politics of ethnicity, and of course,
the issue of religious intolerance that are somehow becoming a key
factor in our day-to-day activity,” he added.

The president said
the report is coming at a most auspicious time because of the political
activities going on in the states. He promised to study the report and
utilise the recommendations in order to properly regulate the Hajj
operations, stating that his administration decided to institutionalise
the office of the Amirul-Hajj in order to modify the Hajj operation in
line with exigencies of the period.

A smoother Hajj

The Sultan, who led
the delegation, thanked Mr. Jonathan for the opportunity given to them
to serve the country and recommended modalities on how to improve on
the exercise.

He also called on
government to examine the report of the committee which contained the
challenges faced, with a view to improving on subsequent Hajj
operations.

The Sultan said the
report is to also help the Federal Government commit less financial
resources in future, as well as strengthen the National Hajj Commission
of Nigeria to perform more effectively.

He said even though
the 2010 exercise was successful, the delegation faced many challenges
such as the new feeding arrangement at Muna and Arafat and the
transportation system newly introduced by the Saudi authorities.

The Federal Executive Council yesterday urged Nigerians to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the benefit of the doubt and provide the body with all the support it needs to make the National Assembly election a success.
The Minister of Information and Communication, Labaran Maku, who briefed journalists after the weekly executive meeting which was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, said no sacrifice is too much to bear for the success of the elections.
He also said the federal government has not sought to have control over INEC’s budget and planning, but has provided everything the commission requires for a successful conduct of the elections.
“As you do know, INEC is independent of the executive arm of government, because INEC is an ombudsman,” he said. “We have done everything possible to remove the last vestiges of any control of the federal executive on INEC. So, INEC is an independent body, with its own budget, with its own planning. It deploys its own resources. What we have done, especially since last year, is to make available to INEC every requirement, every financial requirement that INEC has asked for the successful conduct of the general elections.”
The commission had postponed the National Assembly election, which was to take place last Saturday, by one week due, to logistic problems, including the late arrival of the ballot papers to be used for the elections.
Mr. Maku said although there were several concerns last weekend on the subsequently postponed election and the deployment of logistics in some places, he believes the electoral body will deliver.
“I believe that, with this postponement, INEC is handling all those issues that were raised by observers, politicians and actors concerning the level of preparations that we saw last week,” he said.
He also said the Presidency hopes that the postponement of the election will give the electoral body ample opportunity to address all the lapses which called for the postponement.
“It is our hope and belief that, come this week, INEC will now have the opportunity of using the postponement to address all the issues, especially the question of having adequate vehicles to transport materials from distribution centres to polling centres, and back to collation centres,” he said.
“It is very important because if those logistics arrangements are inadequate, then they create room for individuals to go in and help, and that help indeed can tamper with the security of materials and the outcome of elections. It is our belief that all of us as stakeholders, the media, the political class and members of the public, would be working along with INEC in terms of support, in terms of prayers, in terms of monitoring and indeed in suggestions, so that most of these problems would be addressed in the forthcoming rescheduled elections.”
Mr. Maku could, however, not confirm the possible postponement of the elections in some states as he said the only authority that can take decisions in terms of the postponement of elections is INEC.
“INEC has not informed the government and the public if there are some states where elections might not hold. So the only authority that can answer this question properly is INEC,” he said.

The Inter-Party
Advisory Council (IPAC), a coalition of political parties in the
country, yesterday warned party leaders against preaching violence and
making baseless allegations against the federal government and the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The chairman of
IPAC, Osita Okereke, who spoke on behalf of the group in Abuja, said it
remains opposed to violence by any political party before, during and
after the elections, which begin Saturday with the rescheduled National
Assembly elections.

IPAC, composed of
representatives of the nation’s political parties, had on March 8, this
year, signed up to a Code of Conduct to eschew violence and sanction
any breach of the code. Mr Okereke stated that IPAC would also not
condone a situation where parties level spurious and unfounded
allegations against the government and the electoral body, adding that
such was capable of undermining these institutions and precipitating
crises.

“IPAC, among
others, has the responsibility to observe and monitor the
implementation of the Code of Conduct, 2011 and shall identify,
investigate and sanction violation of the Code of Conduct by any
political party in accordance with existing laws,” he said.

“IPAC is committed
to ensure strict compliance with the Code of Conduct because we believe
it will conduce to peaceful electoral process. Violence will take us
nowhere. It will only cause hysteria in the polity and put the nation
on the edge. The nation can make progress peacefully and that is what
IPAC seeks to achieve in concert with the INEC.”

Mr Okereke, who is
also the national chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP), said IPAC
has already begun work on a profile on each party with a view to
detailing violent acts, tendencies and preachments as well as overall
compliance and non-compliance with the Code of Conduct.

He said that a report would be made to INEC and other relevant agencies for necessary actions.

In a veiled
reference to the allegation made by the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) against the federal government and INEC, Mr Okereke said that the
council is worried that some parties have resorted to making unfounded
allegations against the INEC and the federal government.

“This will not augur well for the process. There is need to
reinforce the integrity of the electoral process. This cannot be done
by making spurious and unfounded allegations as some parties and their
leaders are now wont to do.” Mr Okereke also appealed to Nigerians to
go out en masse on Saturday to cast their votes, saying free, fair and
credible elections would strengthen the nation’s democratic
institutions and bolster people’s believability in and respect for them.

The Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State yesterday said it has placed the
state governor, Gbenga Daniel under surveillance. The party said this
is following reports that Mr Daniel is working against the presidential
ambition of Goodluck Jonathan.

Addressing a press
conference at the party secretariat located in Onikolobo area of
Abeokuta, the Chairman, Dayo Soremi accompanied by other leaders of the
party alleged that Mr Daniel held secret meetings with some leaders of
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to work against PDP both at state
and federal levels.

“The first of the
meetings was held at the private residence of the Ogun State ACN
governorship candidate, Ibikunle Amosun, in Ikeja GRA, last Friday
April 1.

The second of such meeting was held yesterday at the Ikoyi residence of the ACN chieftain,” Mr Soremi revealed.

“By this desperate
action of his, he has jettisoned President Jonathan, the PPN candidates
and their followers. The implication of this is that PPN will vote for
the ACN governorship candidate, Ibikunle Amosun and ACN Presidential
Candidate, Nuhu Ribadu.” The PDP leader explained further that, part of
the plot also include offer of Secretary to the State Government, to
the governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN),
Isiaka Gboyega who will jettison his governorship ambition.

“We believe that
Otunba Gbenga Daniel is going into this unholy alliance with his avowed
political enemy as part of his desperation (which) in the first
instance led (him) to pick somebody who is his preferred governorship
candidate of Ogun State.”

Daniel’s reaction

However, reacting
to the press conference, the governor said the claim by PDP was
heinous, “nothing could be farther from the truth and the new phantom
claim is indicative of the desperation of Chief Soremi and his
cohorts.” In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Gbenro
Adebanjo, it added, “for the avoidance of doubt Otunba Gbenga Daniel
did not leave his Sagamu residence all through Tuesday, April 5, 2011”.

“Indeed at the
time under reference he was in a meeting with the leadership of the
Nigerian Union of Teachers led by Comrade Sam Idowu. The meeting took
place at the Library of his Asoludero residence, Sagamu.

“Anybody who is in
doubt can contact comrade Idowu and his executive members who came to
iron out issues relating to the payment of deducted check-off dues and
cooperatives remittances.” The statement added that, after the meeting
the governor gave directive that the outstanding money up to March
should be paid to the Union by the Accountant General of the state from
the excess crude money which accrued to the state, a decision that has
since been carried out to the delight of the generality of the teachers.

“So while Governor Daniel was busy charting the way forward for
Ogun State, some individuals were busy concocting new lies to be sold
to the people of Ogun State. It is very saddening that the leadership
of the PDP for pure political reason would concoct such a blatant lie
against the Governor of Ogun State.”