Constituency Delimitation Might Not Hold Before 2015 – Jega

National chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has ruled out the possibility of conducting constituency delimitation ahead of the 2015 election, blaming the lack of interest of federal legislators and controversy over census figures for stifling the process.

However, the minister of Information, Labaran Maku, has  declared that elections coordinated by state electoral commissions are a sham just as he blasted politicians of going into elections like a war, hence their purchase of weapons for their supporters.

He, however, expressed optimism that “in 2015, we expect that elections will be more peaceful than those in the past.”

Both Jega and Maku spoke at an event in Abuja organised by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) tagged “NBC/INEC Forum on Broadcast Media Coverage of Election: A Preamble to 2015.”
Jega, who was not optimistic that the delimitation exercise would hold, noted that the commission would continue to do its work in that regard.

He said: “As for constituency delimitation, for several reasons we are not sure we can finish in good time before 2015. As you know, to review electoral constituencies, you must get the joint resolution of the National Assembly before it is done. But the signals we are getting nobody is in the mood for that.

“Beyond that our own work was delayed over the issues that around last year over whether the census figures were authentic or not. We will continue with the work but we may not be able to do a total thorough job.”

Jega who stated that INEC commenced preparations for 2015 after the 2011 election, further reeled out what the electoral commission has been able to do, including reforms in the INEC structure, policy reforms and effective planning.

He however highlighted insecurity, funding and attitude of the political class as some of the key challenges faced by INEC ahead of 2015.

Expantiating on the funding problem, Jega noted that 50 percent of monies allocated to INEC are spent on personnel and staff, adding that all such expenses are verifiable because the account of the commission is open for investigation.

He further charged politicians against portraying do-or-die attitude, asking the media to hold the political class accountable to their promises and actions.

Maku, in his address, lamented that while elections has been the achillies heels of democracy in Nigeria since independence, noted that the “actions of politicians is as if they are going to war.”

He boasted that since 2007, elections litigations in the country has been reduced by 50 percent.

Maku, who further declared that the media in Nigeria is the freest in the world, cautioned the media to reinforce their gate keeping function by not reporting hate or divisive statements.

While he lambasted stated owned media outfits for not accommodating views of opposition, the minister said “as a government we have no reason to deny anybody access or to promote messages that will divide Nigeria.”

He however reiterated the call for the regulation of social media platforms, advocating that social media operators should be brought to a round table conference on how to moderate their messages which he described as “harmful and abusive”.

Chairman of the event, former Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Lawan Uwais, noted that the media could be a source of crisis in the polity if not properly directed.

He lamented that while government owned agencies have been accused of giving coverage of ruling political parties, private media owners have been accused of promoting partisan propaganda that could endanger unity.

The Director General of NBC, Emeka Mba, said if the 2015 election would be successful, the role of the media should be clearly defined.

On his part, representative of the United States Ambassador, Maria Brewer, said the US is ready to support Nigeria ahead of 2015, however said it is up to Nigeria to ensure the elections are credible.

United Nations representative in Nigeria, Dauda Toure, cautioned against hate words saying it has caused many wars across Africa. He underscored the importance of Nigeria in Africa, noting that Nigeria is the engine room for total emancipation of Africa.

- Leadership

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