APC member, Soni Monidafe on Wednesday weighed in on the controversy surrounding INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega’s impending (rumoured) removal, noting that removing him would be tantamount to removing a football referee before the match is over.
The House of Representatives had on Tuesday warned against the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the 2015 general elections, which may affect plans for the elections which have been postponed once.
In a meeting with members of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations, the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber said “certain individuals are not in a free and fair process of elections in this country” asking the group to be vigilant against plans for another election postponement or interim government.
Supporting the warnings, a member of the Contact and Mobilisation Committee, Buhari Campaign Organisation, Soni Monidafe noted that INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega’s appointment was political and tenured and so he could not be sent on terminal leave.
He likened the current situation of the elections to a football match moderated by a referee, asking that “What is the essence of changing a referee in the middle of a game”?
“We are in a situation where this country is on tenterhooks. There’s tension all over the place”, he said, attributing the tension to the postponed elections, which he said was carried out by “false pretense”.
He warned that any attempt to remove Jega “would not be good for our democracy”.
Commenting on rumours that the Presidency was seeking to remove the INEC Chairman before the elections are held, Mr Monidafe recalled that such had happened before, mentioning former President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami and former CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, insisting that the people expected government to respect the rule of law.
“The case of Ayo Salami has a similar bearing to what we are seeing right now. People did not expect Ayo Salami to be eventually removed. It was done,” he said.
He disregarded the Presidency’s denial of planning to remove Jega, arguing that they had also denied planning a shift in the elections.
He noted that there were rumours Jega was to embark on his terminal leave on the 24th of March, four days to the election, adding that “what is so important about getting Jega to go on terminal leave that they will want to put this country in trouble”.
