We support Jega to conduct fair elections – AD

Presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, Mr. Rafiu Salau

The presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy, Mr. Rafiu Salau, has thrown its weight behind the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega.
He also stated that his party would not boycott the election as some political parties threatened last week.
Salau, in a statement made available to our correspondent, stated that he and his party were against the call from some quarters for the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the INEC chairman.
The statement read in part, “The Alliance for Democracy members and its presidential candidate are not in support of the call for the removal of Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Within three weeks to the general elections, a new person cannot give an assurance of free and fair elections.
“The performance of Prof. Jega since 2011 has shown that he is currently the best person to lead the commission to conduct free and fair elections. All the governorship and by-elections he conducted were free and fair. For example, the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States showed a lot of improvement in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.”
Salau noted that Jega being a professor of political science knew the importance of free and fair elections in the development of democracy.
“He introduced the Permanent Voter Cards to eliminate rigging in elections. The two states that the PVCs were used had free and fair elections. He always consults all political parties whenever the commission wants to introduce a new idea for an improvement in the conduct of elections. He carries all stakeholders along,” he said.
The AD flag bearer also stated that any observed inadequacies in the test-run of the card readers by the electorate should be made known to the electoral body, adding that the introduction of card readers in the conduct of the general elections is based on the premise of improving on the country’s electoral processes and voting experience of the masses.
He added, “The idea of studying the possibility of having a problem with the card reader is not confrontational. It is to look into the possibility of perfect elections. There is nothing wrong in using card reader if the test run shows that it will give the nation free and fair elections.
However, if the observation that it may cause a problem is correct, the stakeholders can meet and find a solution to it. The party will not boycott the general elections.”