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| APC party chieftains - (2nd Left) Odigie-Oyegun, Chairman, (2nd Right) Prof Osinbajo and (Right) General Buhari, Presidential condidate. |
The All Progressives Congress, APC,
Senators yesterday raised the alarm over the alleged plot by the presidency to
send Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof.
Attahiru Jega on compulsory retirement leave.
The APC Senators claimed that they
received information from a credible source to the effect that the INEC Chairman
would be given a letter by the office of Head of Service, HOS, directing him to
proceed on retirement leave next week.
Vanguard continues:
The opposition Senators said that
the procedure in which civil servants and political appointees follow for their
retirement was different from that of career officers, adding that there was
constitutional provision in which such career officers are appointed and
removed.
The Senators gave instance with a
letter from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation where it
was stated that an appointee with a definite term of years has nothing to do
with pre-retirement leave and that such retirement leave was only applicable to
core officers who run their Civil Service to retirement of 35 years of service
or 60 years of age and not for a definite tenure.”
Leader of the APC Senators and
Minority Leader of the senate, Senator George Akume flanked by other opposition
Senators in a press briefing said that such alleged sinister move to force the INEC
boss out of office was because of the forthcoming elections and said that such
move was capable of plunging the country into anarchy.
He said, “Honestly, we said it
before; this is the road to Golgotha, road to Armageddon. This people want to
destroy this country completely. Today this country is broke and it is not
because of Jega. People who are responsible are there and they are friends of
government. Nigerians want peace not pieces.”
APC Senators claimed that Prof. Jega
was ready to conduct the presidential and National Assembly elections on
February 14 only to be forced to put the elections off as a result of the
pressure and the letter from the National Security Adviser, NSA, on security
challenges especially in the North East.
They said, “Today we want to say
that only dishonest politicians fear (Prof. Attahiru) Jega as the Chairman of
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). We have received
information from very, very informed and credible source that next week the
Chairman of the INEC will be served a letter by the office of the Head of Civil
Service directing him to proceed on terminal leave.
“Whether the letter comes from the
Head of Service or the Secretary to the Federal Government does not make sense.
What we are saying is even if you go by the terms of the head of the civil
service of the 11th of August, 2010, with reference no: HCSF/CMO/1772/T1/11 it
is not applicable whatsoever to the chairman of INEC.
“This circular was talking about
clarification on pre-retirement leave. Pre-retirement leave is applicable to
tenured officers, careers civil servants and you are bound to disengage when
you get to 35 years in service or when you get to 60 years of age.
“This provision is not applicable to
Jega. Why would the Federal Government controlled by the PDP want to temper
with an arrangement that is so critical to this election. Jega was ready to
conduct elections; the Federal Government controlled by the PDP was not ready.
“Today nobody has faulted what Jega
is doing but we have seen articles sponsored against Jega by a particular
political party. Bringing the issue of card readers and trying to hang Jega
cannot work. Monies for the cards were appropriated by the National Assembly
and they have been applied for the acquisition of these very sensitive
materials.
“We want a credible election but in
a situation where we are being informed that because the postponement of
elections attracted no reaction from Nigerians you can therefore do whatever
you want to do, remove Jega, put a spineless and pliant person there to do the
bidding of the government doesn’t hold water.
“We want elections that are credible
and you cannot start a game which is about to end and suddenly you want to
change the goal post. You don’t want the referee because he is being fair to
all sides. And then you want to subvert the whole system for sinister and
personal purposes.
“We will continue to say no to
impunity and we will never accept any attempt to undermine the credibility of
the forth coming elections. We want to use this medium to appeal to Nigerians
to be steadfast, to keep watch so that their labour can never be in vain.
“Nigeria is long overdue for a
credible election. We said it before and we want to repeat, if smaller
countries like Ghana could do this perfectly well, why can’t Nigeria do it? We
oppose the removal because it is criminal, illegal and unconstitutional.
“We oppose this removal through the
back door because government itself knows that if Jega goes wrong you have to
remove him by using the Senate to take him out but you know you require
two-third and that is what they are running away from.
“If you postpone elections and
suddenly you say Jega should go, then Nigerians would have been deceived into
taking it that elections were extended because there were no sufficient
Permanent Voter Cards to enable everybody to vote.
“Even on the issue of PVCs you
observe that over 70million have been distributed. It is for all of us to also
do our own civic responsibility by getting these PVCs. You don’t go and lay in
your house and expect to collect the PVCs. It hasn’t got legs so it cannot
walk.
“It is not directed by a computer,
so it will know and be able to locate where you live, but these things have
been decentralized so that as many Nigerians as possible who are willing to
take these cards and vote will do so. You also know that even those who have
collected may not vote on that day for their personal reasons.
“But on a daily basis, Jega is being
hammered. They say Jega is depriving over 10 million people of their right to
vote. That is not true and we condemn what the government is trying to do and
we want to appeal to all of you to rise up and defend our democracy.
On whether the President does not
have the Constitutional powers to suspend any appointee, the opposition
Senators said that there was no provision of suspension in the Constitution,
while Senator Kabiru Marafa representing Zamfara South said, “Senator Kabiru
Marafa representing Zamfara South said, “Section 157(1) clearly states that the
president can only remove Jega with the vote of two-third majority of all
Senators. Under whatever guise Whether suspension, retirement or voluntary
leave, he cannot be removed.
On the agitation for the Service
Chiefs to be summoned to the senate over the botched February 14 elections and
the security situation in the North East, Senator Ahmed Lawan said, “It is the
right time to make the request to the senate because about four days ago, INEC
met with Service Chiefs to review the progress and if there anybody that should
know, it is the National Assembly.”
Senator Akume further said that the opposition
Senators respect for the military and were proud of them, adding, “We are only
kicking against impunity. The party is saying police should be drafted to
monitor polling units to ensure security so that what happened in Ekiti will
not be repeated.”
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