No Plans to Sack Jega- Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has restated that he has no plan to sack Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), ahead of the March 28 and April 11 elections.

Speaking in an interview with Aljazeera, President Jonathan denied he was nursing such a plan and said that INEC is a sensitive and important institution and that removing its chairman arbitrarily would spark public outcry.

There has been speculation that the Federal Government was plotting to remove the INEC chairman before the elections.

Jega’s tenure ends in June but there are claims the administration plans to send him on a three-month pre-disengagement leave before the election.

The speculation followed allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the anti-Jega posturing of the Peoples Democratic Party as well as groups and individuals rooting for President Jonathan.

Last Thursday, senators of the APC, led by George Akume, said they had reliable Intelligence that Jega would be asked to proceed on pre-retirement leave this week through a letter that would originate from the office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

But president Jonathan said that “Except somebody is insinuating that the Chairman has done something wrong. You cannot change an officer, except the person has done something wrong,” Jonathan said in response to a question on Jega.

He added that “Government, whether at the federal or state level, president or governor, does not wake up and change somebody, especially somebody like the INEC Chairman, except that person has done something wrong.

“INEC is a very sensitive body. For me to change INEC Chairman Nigerians will ask questions. So, you cannot wake up and change INEC Chairman.”

He added that he had never discussed with “any human being on earth about changing INEC Chairman”.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a resolution warning the federal government of imminent danger that will lead to break down of law and order if the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is removed from office before the March 28 presidential poll.

The House at plenary presided over by the Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, urged the federal government, political class and the security agencies to heed the warning in the interest of the nation, not to interfere with the existing schedules of the general elections.

The House also said it would hold accountable at both domestic judicial forum or at the international criminal court, any person or organisation that foists on INEC any person or action whatsoever, that has the effect of making it impracticable for the election to hold on the 28th March and 11th of April 2015.

A motion under the matters of urgent national importance, moved by Rep Ali Ahmed (APC Kwara), noted that the initial postponement of the general election for six weeks due to the security concerns related to the Boko Haram insurgency has further heightened the tempo for pre-election violence.

He further warned that any alteration to the current arrangement in whatever form including but not limited to illegal removal of the current INEC chairman at this crucial stage would invariably lead to further postponement of the date of election.

He informed the House that already there is documented evidence from several sources that any change in status quo arrangement, especially removal of Jega ” present a possibility of violence” and would occasion the sowing of seeds of a major crisis.

He maintained that the civil society organisations and lawyers including usually reticent senior advocates of Nigeria have sounded “a note of warning” that such removal will be unconstitutional, giving the decision of the Supreme Court that removal of Jega or members of such an independent electoral body as INEC pursuant to section 157 of the constitution can only be achieve when two things happen, either his inability to discharge the functions of the office or for misconduct.

He added that any such deliberate induced violence as it did in 2011 post-election period into widespread or systematic attack, persecution, arson murder, thereby amounting to serious crime of concern to the international community as contained in article 5 of the 1998 Rome status of the international criminal court, to which Nigeria is a signatory.

However, the motion was challenged in a point of order moved by Deputy Minority Leader, Rep Leo Ogor (PDP Delta), who argued that the motion was totally speculative and that it will only bring confusion. He claimed that as it is, nobody is removing Jega as it was reported. His point of order was however over ruled by the Speaker who moved that the motion be read.