El-Rufai berates NSA for opposing INEC’s vote-and-wait option

Malam Nasiru el-Rufai

The National Security Adviser retired Gen. Patrick Aziza must be joking for daring to oppose INEC’s recommendation that voters should wait at polling units after casting their votes to witness ballot counting and announcement of results, former Minister of the FCT, Malam Nasiru el-Rufai, has said.

Leading the Good Governance Group (3G) at a press conference with the theme: “Voters must not be intimidated”, yesterday, el-Rufai urged voters to discountenance any position other than INEC’s, noting that the NSA must be living in the past when people would vote and walk away to allow space for election riggers to have a field day.

“The NSA is living in the past and he will get to know on Saturday...vote and leave is the foundation for rigging. We are urging people to take big breakfast before going to polling units so that after voting they will stay there and see their votes being counted,” the former minister said.

The 3G also frowned at the plan to deploy troops during the election, saying “the operation has little to do with security concerns but creating a climate of intimidation to rig the elections.”

“The plan consists of intimidating voters and precluding them from coming out to freely elect candidates of their choice in the 2011 elections, particularly in areas where candidates having the support of the government of the day appear to be unpopular,” he said.

3G commended INEC for resolving “to disallow any public officers –be it President, vice president, governors, deputy governors, and ministers...from violating the restricted movement on Election Day directives under the guise of election monitoring.”

He noted that Jega’s appointment was by accident and the PDP is already regretting that President Goodluck Jonathan took the decision to appoint the INEC chairman, who has currently built fire walls around the electoral commission.

El-Rufai observed that the trend in majority of African elections in recent times have been to sack incumbent government, citing cases of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Kenya. “No Nigerian would wish to share the anguish that stolen elections have caused in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and is causing in Cote d’Ivoire,” the 3G said, stressing that the convulsions of June 12, 1993 should not be allowed to return.

The 3G which was formed in 2009 also has former Senate President Ken Nnamani and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Bello Masari as members who took part in the Safe Nigeria Initiative that pushed for the observance of constitutional provisions in the terminal days of President Umaru Yar’adua.