How Jega’s Action Impacted 2015 Election, By Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the action of former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, must have influenced the outcome of the 2015 presidential election, which he lost to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Jonathan expressed his displeasure as contained in a book written by THISDAY Editorial Board Chairman, Mr. Segun Adeniyi. In the book, which will be launched on Friday, April 28, 2017, Adeniyi quoted the former President as saying: “I was disappointed by Jega because I still cannot understand what propelled him to act the way he did in the weeks preceding the election.

“As at the first week in February 2015 when about 40 per cent of Nigerians had not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), Jega said INEC was ready to conduct an election in which millions of people would be disenfranchised.

“Of course, the mericans were encouraging him to go ahead yet they would never do such a thing in their own country. How could we have cynically disenfranchised about a third of our registered voters for no fault of theirs and still call that a credible election?

“The interesting thing was that the opposition also supported the idea of going on with the election that was bound to end in confusion.

“When the military and security chiefs demanded for more time to deal with the insurgency, the reasons were genuine. “As at February 2015, it would have been very difficult to vote in Gombe, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.”