A civil Rights platform-HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIA [HURIWA] has challenged the hierarchy of the Independent National
Electoral Commission [INEC] to redress the systemic anomalies noticed in the
distribution of the so-called Permanent Voter's Cards which it says is skewed
in favour of the Northern Region even as the Rights group demanded full
independent Commission of Inquiry to probe the damaging allegations raised by
the second republic civilian governor of old Kaduna Alhaji Balarabe Musa that
the current INEC's leadership is scheming out states suspected of being strong
support base of one of the presidential Candidates in the distribution of the
PVCs.
Besides, the Rights group upbraided the top commanders of the
nation's armed forces for scuttling the proposed February 14/28th General
elections and forcing the electoral panel to shift the dates only on the
nebulous ground that the armed forces will not provide security for the
elections if it proceeded on the previously agreed dates. HURIWA said military
authorities are subordinate to civilian authorities in line with the provisions
of the Nigerian Constitution and that the resort to the use of subterfuge and
coercion by the security chiefs to force a shift in election timelines amounted
to high treason which must not be swept under the carpets because of its far
reaching adverse implications to the larger goals and objectives of building
sustainable culture of democracy and rule of law in Nigeria.
HURIWA has thereby urged President Good luck Jonathan to call his
military service chiefs to order even as the Rights group also blamed the
leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission headed by Professor
Attahiru Jega for bringing Nigeria's electoral calendar into disrepute and
creating room for the military top brass to play the less than impressive
and indeed illegal role of busy bodies and interlopers who have now
threatened the sanctity of our democracy. ''But for the apparent display
of ruthless unprofessionalism and crass incompetence in the conduct of the
national voters registration exercise and the consequential lopsided and
criminally manipulated distribution of the permanent voter's cards these
misbehaving and 'power drunk' top military commanders wouldn't have found any
alibi to sabotage the independently chosen dates for the Nigerian
General elections which has now been tinkered with''.
In a media statement signed jointly by the National Coordinator
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab
Yusuf, HURIWA said the leadership of the electoral panel under Professor Jega
has failed spectacularly to ensure that no state of the federation or indeed no
ethnic nationality in the Nigerian federation is carefully, systematically and
indeed criminally schemed out and hugely discriminated against in the
distribution of the permanent voter's cards just as it condemned totally
the alleged lopsided distribution of these voters cards In favour of certain
geopolitical interests in Northern Nigeria with a clear agendum to deny and
discriminate against the potential voters of South East region. HURIWA
has hereby called on right thinking Nigerians to continue to speak out and
demand that INEC redresses these anomalies because of its manifest
unconstitutionality and the glaring breach of chapter four of the Nigerian
constitution which prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity in the
implementation of government policies and the inherent but sinister plots to
deny the people of the South East region of their constitutionally guaranteed
civil and political rights to vote and be voted for.
''HURIWA hereby calls on Mr. President to constitute an
independent judicial commission of inquiry to investigate these range of
allegations of directly scheming out the South East people from the current
distribution of permanent voter's cards by INEC. The lopsided practice of using
the traditional institution of the Northern Region to distribute the PVCs and
also denying the traditional institution of South East region the same
privilege to rapidly distribute the permanent voters cards to their validly
recognized registered subjects amounted to injustice and the height of impunity
which must be thoroughly probed and redressed by an independent body. We support
the call by most right thinking Nigerian that the May 29th 2015 transition
date must remain sacrosanct. The accusations flying around in Lagos state of
the refusal by INEC officials to give the PVCs to voters of South East origin
must be investigated and the indicted culprits tried for high treason.''
09/02/2015
No comments:
Post a Comment