Ex-Senate President, Ebute blasts Jega

■Seeks INEC boss’ sack

Former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, has taken a swipe at the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, saying the integrity of the electoral um­pire to conduct the February elec­tions is questionable.

Ebute alluded to the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), which he said Jega have only been delivered to the North West zone, stressing that the performance of INEC is below standard.

According to the Third Repub­lic senate president: “From what we have seen, the performance of INEC has fallen below standard and those of us, particularly in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are very, very suspicious of the integrity of the chairman of INEC because we don’t know the reason his political zone, the North West, has been given preference against the other states.

“I read yesterday (Wednesday) that all the states in the North West have been given their PVCs and that the PVCs have been distributed up to eighty-something, 90 per cent level. We don’t know other secret things that they are doing that nobody is aware of, but the one of the distribu­tion of the PVCs is very clear to Ni­gerians that INEC, as it is constituted today, is partial, is preparing ground for a particular candidate.”

Ebute spoke further on this with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS in Abuja, even as he declared that his party, the PDP, is 90 per cent sure of victory in the forthcoming presidential elec­tion. Excerpts…

Preparations for February elections are already on. In your view, how is the cam­paign going?

The campaigns are going very well. We have prepared for it and in spite of the few hitches we have had here and there during our primaries, the campaigns, as far as the presi­dential election is concerned, are a full proof. We are quite ready for the election on February 14, 2015, and we are 90 per cent sure of victory in the presidential election because the main basis of the people voting, is on performance and merit. And I want to ask Nigerians to go round and see what Jonathan has done, whether any president has performed to such level before. So, if elections are to be based on performance and on merit rather than on zonal and tribal basis, then we are 90 per cent sure. And I am sure that the silent Nigerians who are not talking, who are not politi­cians, and who have seen what is on the ground, will definitely vote for President Goodluck Jonathan.

How do you see the pre­paredness of INEC to conduct the elections?

From what we have seen, the per­formance of INEC has fallen below standard and those of us, particularly in the PDP, are very, very suspicious of the integrity of the chairman of INEC (Prof Attahiru Jega) because we don’t know the reason his polit­ical zone, the North West, has been given preference against the other states.

I read yesterday (Wednesday) that all the states in the North West have been given their PVCs and that the PVCs have been distributed up to eighty-something, 90 per cent level. So, I want to appeal and to urge Pro­fessor Jega and officials under him to immediately change tactics and make sure that all the states of the federation have equal distribution of PVCs. If not, they cannot run away from the accusation that they are be­ing partial and they are favouring a particular candidate. When you sup­ply some states with PVCs and you deny others with PVCs, then how can you escape from being accused of impartiality? So, I appeal to them and I urge them that unless they change between now and the end of the month, we would urge the gov­ernment to dissolve INEC and bring in people who would perform impar­tially so as to pave the way for free and fair elections.

So, you doubt the ability of Jega to conduct free and fair elections?

I have told you that the evidence that I have seen so far has created doubt in me as to whether Jega can be impartial. The law is that it is an independent electoral commission, but how can an independent electoral commission favour one zone against the other? That is the question. We don’t know other secret things that they are doing that nobody is aware of, but the one of the distribution of the PVCs is very clear to Nigerians that INEC, as it is constituted today, is partial, is preparing ground for a particular candidate.

How do you see the re­sponse of Nigerians?

Nigerians are responding in a very angry manner. Or are there no roads to carry PVCs to other states of the federation in the North Central, in the South East and in the South South? So, it is only in the North West that we have vehicles to carry PVCs to? No explanation has been given by INEC why all the states in the North West have been supplied with PVCs and other states in the federation have not been supplied with PVCs.

Going by your experience as an elder statesman and most importantly, as a former sen­ate president, how do you see the forthcoming elections?

The forthcoming elections are go­ing to be most peaceful and if INEC could tighten its belt and perform impartially, it will measure to in­ternational standard. And we in the PDP are prepared. We are not using our governmental power. We are the party in power, but we are not mus­cling anybody, we are not removing anybody from office because of his impartiality. So, the election will be free and fair if only INEC can behave transparently in the eyes of Nigerians that what they are doing is fair to all the states of the federation.

How are the forthcoming elections going to be different from past elections?

The elections are going to be different from past elections in the sense that the elections will be very, very peaceful.

Do you think the re-election of President Jonathan is good omen for the country?

Yes. He has to continue because President Goodluck Jonathan has performed creditably well and I don’t think Nigerians will allow all the programmes that he has put in place, the railway system, in the avi­ation sector and the development in agriculture that we are becoming the number one economy in the whole of Africa, I don’t think that Nigeri­ans would want this to stop by not re-electing President Goodluck Jon­athan. So, re-electing Jonathan is progress for this country so that he could use the remaining four years to complete all the programmes that he has started before any other person would come and rubbish the situa­tion.

His critics believe that the president has not handled sufficiently, the insecurity rav­aging the North East. What is your take on this?

The insecurity that we are seeing now was created by top officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) so that they can accuse him of inability to suppress the insecuri­ty. So, Nigerians should be sensible enough to understand that the people who started the insecurity are there and we know them and they are the people who are saying that three months in office, they will be able to suppress the insecurity. Oh! Yes, be­cause the boys in the field, the Boko Haram, are their boys. And once they come to power, they just call them to office and ask them to stop because they encouraged them in the first place. They financed them and they are working for them. They are recruiting some fighters from out­side, these top officials of APC. So, they have the ability to stop them. But that would be a very bad omen because so many lives have already gone. And especially for the presi­dential candidate of the APC who had truncated democracy in1983, there is a saying in law that you cannot commit fraud and later try to benefit from the fraud. You cannot truncate democracy and say that you are a democrat; that you want to be elected on the platform of a political party.

So, there is no hope for Gen­eral Buhari?

My vote is only one, so I cannot say there is no hope for him. He could have hope depending on what Nigerians say.

Upon his emergence as the APC presidential candidate, it was learnt that there was pan­ic at the PDP secretariat. What accounted for this?

There was no panic. His emer­gence cannot create panic because this is not the first time that Jonathan is contesting with Buhari. He con­tested with him in 2011 and Jona­than defeated him. So, why should anybody panic in the PDP because Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC?

But he seems to be get­ting more approbation, more followers across the country more than ever before. How do you see this trend?

Well, the people that you see, the crowd that come out, are always bought by political parties. People come out, believing that because of the very small hardship in the coun­try, they could benefit and that they could be given something. So, it is not genuine crowd. They are usually bought.

The forthcoming elections are largely believed would go by tribal and religious inclina­tions. What’s responsible for this?

In the previous presidential elec­tions, we have made it. But now, some people have come out. Sena­tor Bola Tinubu and some die-hards from the North West have come out to say that those two zones alone can produce the president. That is, the South West and the North West. So, they have ganged up on the basis of tribe to say that they have the capac­ity to produce the president and that is what we are going to see.

My message for Nigerians is that they should vote irrespective of trib­al sentiments; that they should vote on the basis of merit and perfor­mance for the unity of this country.

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