April 26 is new date, all Ekiti, Plateau Senatorial districts affected
NSPMC accuses INEC of bias in printing of ballot papers
THE National Assembly elections rescheduled for tomorrow will not hold in 15 Senatorial Districts and 48 Federal Constituencies, INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said yesterday.
This, according to him, affects “only about 14 per cent of all Senatorial Districts and 13 per cent of Federal Constituencies. This means that elections will take place this Saturday in 86 per cent and 87 per cent of Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies respectively.”
Elections in the affected constituencies will now hold on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 together with the governorship and State Assembly elections, he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the management of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) yesterday spoke for the first time in the raging controversy surrounding ballot papers and other sensitive materials for the botched National Assembly elections last Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Addressing newsmen yesterday, the NSPMC Managing Director, Mr. Ehi Okomoyon declared that his establishment was still at a loss to explain why it was not invited to tender for the job in preference for the South African firm which ended up embarrassing the whole nation.
Besides, the commission denied media reports that it had contracted out the printing of ballot papers to replace those that were either exposed during the April 2 botched National Assembly elections or political parties which logos and names were missing in the ballot papers.
Jega, while addressing newsmen on the outcome of its meeting on Tuesday, said Senatorial elections will not take place in Bayelsa Central, Benue North; Cross River South and Central Districts; Ebonyi North; all the three Senatorial Districts in Ekiti State; Gombe North; Kaduna North; Niger South; all the three Senatorial Districts in Plateau State and Sokoto North.
For Federal Constituencies, some local councils in Abia State such as Isiala Ngwa North/South; in Akwa Ibom State, Ukana/Ofun, among others, were affected.
He, however, said that a decision was yet to be taken if the ballot papers would be printed locally or would be sent to be printed from outside the country. He said the commission met for the good part of Wednesday night with some of the best printers in the country on the possibility of having the job executed in the country but said that a decision had to be deferred since it had become clear that the printing could not be completed before the elections take place and since it has become apparent that the elections would have to be postponed in those areas.
But he said a decision would be taken on where to print the ballot papers in a very short time since there were still two weeks away from the elections. He stated that whenever a decision was taken, he was confident that the job could be delivered well before the elections.
Jega said the commission was working towards getting the vendors that caused the national embarrassment to order, possibly through judiciary. He added that the contractors signed a contract, which contained certain clauses, including failure to deliver as appropriate and there were consequences therein. He said while some legal provisions were being explored towards getting judicial redress, it would amount to prejudices if the commission went ahead to take actions that would amount to prejudices, including naming the contractors.
The INEC urged Nigerians to have faith in the commission to deliver free, fair and credible elections, saying it was better to have a postponed election than having an election that was fatally flawed. While he understood the sentiments of Nigerians about the twice-postponed elections, Jega said it was done in good faith and in keeping with the commission’s pledge to give Nigerians some good elections.
When told that some parties were threatening to go to court over the fresh postponement in some states, the INEC wondered why that had to be so, because according to him, during the meeting with political party leaders on Sunday, they were informed of the fact that some of the states were mostly affected and that elections might not hold immediately in those areas and an agreement was struck with the party leaders who agreed with the decision.
Jega’s full statement runs thus: “When the Commission last Saturday, April 2, 2011, rescheduled the National Assembly elections, it stated very clearly that the elections will hold this Saturday, April 9, 2011. We are happy to say that the elections will go ahead this weekend as planned. We as a Commission fully appreciate the enormous sacrifices made by millions of Nigerian voters who turned out for the exercise on April 2. I urge you to also do the same this weekend.
“Since the postponement, the Commission has worked tirelessly to address the challenges observed in the conduct of the rescheduled elections. Thus, result sheets have not only been delivered to the country, but have been received by states and Local Government Areas nationwide. Similarly, other election materials needed at the State and Local Governments have been supplied. Logistic challenges have been addressed and we have had further consultations with political parties, security services and other stakeholders to address other challenges that emerged last Saturday. Consequently, all is now set for the National Assembly elections to hold across the country on Saturday.
“However, some challenges emerging from the fact that voting took place in some areas in spite of the postponement require more time than we have had since last Saturday. For example, in some areas a good quantity of ballot papers had been used and it is not possible to reprint enough replacement ballot papers before the elections. Also, in a few constituencies, party names and logos were missing on ballot papers. While some of these resulted from human errors in compiling the names of qualified candidates and parties for the elections, others are related to sudden changes emanating from several judicial pronouncements on party nominations. These challenges dictate that fresh ballot papers be printed prior to conducting the elections.
“The Commission has made strenuous efforts to get these ballot papers printed within the available time; but given the security requirements of the printing of ballot papers and the inability of domestic and international companies to deliver on time, it has become imperative that sufficient time be given for the printing of these ballot papers. Consequently, while elections will in general take place next Saturday, it has become inevitable to postpone elections in a few affected constituencies, that is 15 Senatorial Districts and 48 Federal Constituencies which are as follows:
• “I should say that the postponed elections affect only about 14 per cent of all Senatorial Districts and 13 per cent of Federal Constituencies. This means that elections will take place this Saturday in 86 per cent and 87 per cent of Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies respectively.
• “Elections in these affected constituencies will now hold on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 together with the governorship and state Assembly elections.
• “For purposes of clarity, it is not everywhere that voting took place last week that is affected by this rescheduling. In some areas, only very few ballots were used, which means that elections can go on unhindered in those places this Saturday.
• “I want to seize this opportunity to advise all voters to be orderly and peaceful during the elections. Those who choose to stay behind after voting must be orderly and non-violent. I appeal to political parties to implore their supporters to eschew violence. We are working closely with the security agencies to arrest political thugs and vigilantes. Also, underage voters will be arrested. I appeal to parents and community leaders not to allow their children to indulge in this illegal act.
• “We also noticed last Saturday that some governors did not comply with the appeal to them not to move around with their security orderlies during the elections. Although we recognise that governors are chief executives of their states, I once more appeal to them to vote and return home in order to reduce political tensions during the elections. Security agencies will strictly enforce compliance with this directive.
• “Let me once again thank Nigerians for their understanding and support for the Commission in its efforts to deliver free, fair and credible elections. I urge you all to come out on Saturday, April 9th, to exercise your right to vote.”
Okomoyon said the development was more disturbing given that it had printed previous election materials for INEC in the past without any security concerns. He also clarified that NSPMC was not printing any material; neither was it warehousing the imported printed materials from South Africa.
He was reacting to an Abuja-based newspaper cover story yesterday insinuating that the NSPMC was wired because of election materials being printed there.
Okomoyon said: “That story is false, misleading and not true because the NSPMC is not printing any election materials for INEC. Yes, it’s true that we submitted a proposal to print the materials for them. But as I speak with you, we have not been invited nor approached for any services. The reason we were not invited, we don’t know. You may need to find out from INEC why we were not invited in place of the foreign firm.
“The NSPMC sympathises with INEC for the situation it is facing and hereby expresses readiness to print any security material for it without compromise because we are a secured organisation printing every single denomination of the Nigerian currency and other sensitive security documents.”
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