Muslim Group, MURIC Tasks INEC To Resist Compromise In Forthcoming Elections

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News, Nigeria 2015 Election Monday, February 2nd, 2015

By Niyi Adeyi, Lagos – The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has been charged to stay focused and resist attempts to compromise any of the electoral principles as the country is on the way to another general poll.

In view of this, INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has been reminded that he has name to protect, hence ensure that the coming polls were free and fair.

A human right organization, Muslim Right Concern (MURIC) made these submissions in a press statement issued Monday, by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, Ishaq Akintola.

MURIC Director asserted “2015 election will print his name in letters of gold, whereas compromise will dump his legacy in the dustbin of history”.

Rising from its Central Working Committee’s Situation Assessment Session (SAS), MURIC urged Nigerians to give INEC full cooperation and called on those who were yet to collect their PVCs to create time for follow-up.

Professor Akintola who is a senior lecture at the Lagos State University (LASU), appealed to all stakeholders to eschew violence during and after the elections, as well as tasked the security agencies to demonstrate professionalism and impartiality while the exercise lasted.

However, MURIC declared that its SAS session rejected calls for postponement of the exercise and described those behind the calls as “reactionary elements and cogs in the wheels of democracy”.

The group which observed that the INEC has succeeded in retaining the confidence Nigerians reposed in it, as it has resisted pressure in the same regard, gave kudos to the electoral body for refusing to get involved in inter-party squabbles to date and for creating a level playing ground for all political parties.

It noted that the successful completion of production of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) was another feather in INEC’s cap, so also the diversification of PVC collection centers in local governments and wards as well as INEC’s use of social media which enabled millions of people to locate the centers where they collected their cards.

MURIC also commended the electoral body’s extension of PVCs distribution to February 8, after two earlier extensions, adding that the measure was another evidence of INEC’s pragmatism and the managerial skill of its leadership.

In the meantime, the association has in effort to ensure a peaceful atmosphere, appealed to the Federal Government to declare a two-day holiday to enable civil servants and other workers to pursue the collection of their PVCs; political parties, relevant authorities and individuals to resist temptations to rig the elections.