INEC cannot guarantee elections to hold in North East

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega, on Monday said that unless there is a significant improvement in the security situation, the February general elections may not hold in some local government areas in the northeast.

“A place like Borno State, unless something is done about those that have been displaced, even return for the governorship might be difficult, if not impossible under the circumstances.

“To be realistic, we must say that it may be impossible to do elections everywhere, in every local government, in every constituency in those three states,” he said, while speaking at a forum in Abuja, organised by the African Policy Research Institute.

He, however, pointed out that the commission was working hard to limit the number of Nigerians that may be disenfranchised as a result of the insurgency.

He announced that the commission has made adequate plans for internally displaced persons to vote in designated areas in the north east.

“First and foremost, we know that there is many internally displaced persons in Nigeria but our focus is going to be on the north east zone and it will only be for internally displaced persons that are in the states”, he added.

Also speaking at the forum was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, who called on politicians who steal the nation’s resources to be cautious.

He noted that “our problem is not in terms of wealth but in terms of distribution of the wealth; the social distribution”.

Credit: Channels