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The Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Attahiru Jega, says he
will guarantee free and fair elections in 2011, if he gets more time to
prepare for the polls.

Mr. Jega gave this
assurance during an exclusive interview with NEXT at INEC headquarters
in Abuja yesterday. He said, ‘‘I can guarantee an excellent job, if I
get time until April to be able to conduct elections. I will have no
apprehension about doing a very good, excellent voter registration
exercise’’ adding, ‘‘I will have gained sufficient time to be able to
prepare adequately for the conduct of the elections’’.

The chairman of the
electoral commission was speaking about the recent call by his
commission for an extension of the election time table. Following a
retreat in Calabar, the commission also announced that it would be
looking at legal ways to get an extension of the election time table. A
day after that announcement, the body held a meeting with
representatives of all political parties most of whom rose from the
meeting endorsing the call for more time. The National Assembly has
since announced that it would be sitting on Monday to look at the issue.

Knotty issues

However, the INEC
Chairman admitted that potentially there are knotty issues with holding
elections in April, a month that increasingly appears to be the
preferred choice for holding the polls. He admitted that this date may
not allow time for resolution of cases that may arise out of the
election ahead of the May 29th handover, but says if INEC does an
‘‘excellent job, there will be minimal litigation’’.

Sounding upbeat
and optimistic, Mr. Jega also said he believed the Nigerian judiciary
is sensitive to the importance of dealing expeditiously with election
cases and he expects that they would do their best to speed up the
determination of cases arising from elections.

Read the full interview with Attahiru Jega in NEXT on Sunday