Ex-Senate President, Ebute blasts Jega

Former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, has taken a swipe at
the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, saying the
integrity of the electoral umpire to conduct the February elec­
tions is questionable.
Ebute alluded to the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), which he
said Jega have only been delivered to the North West zone,
stressing that the performance of INEC is below standard.
According to the Third Republic senate president: “From what
we have seen, the performance of INEC has fallen below
standard and those of us, particularly in the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), are very, very suspicious of the
integrity of the chairman of INEC because we don’t know the
reason his political zone, the North West, has been given
preference against the other states.
“I read yesterday (Wednesday) that all the states in the North
West have been given their PVCs and that the PVCs have
been distributed up to eighty-something, 90 per cent level. We
don’t know other secret things that they are doing that
nobody is aware of, but the one of the distribution of the PVCs
is very clear to Nigerians that INEC, as it is constituted today,
is partial, is preparing ground for a particular candidate.”
Ebute spoke further on this with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS in
Abuja, even as he declared that his party, the PDP, is 90 per
cent sure of victory in the forthcoming presidential election.
Excerpts…
Preparations for February elections are already on. In your
view, how is the campaign going?
The campaigns are going very well. We have prepared for it
and in spite of the few hitches we have had here and there
during our primaries, the campaigns, as far as the presidential
election is concerned, are a full proof. We are quite ready for
the election on February 14, 2015, and we are 90 per cent sure
of victory in the presidential election because the main basis
of the people voting, is on performance and merit. And I want
to ask Nigerians to go round and see what Jonathan has
done, whether any president has performed to such level
before. So, if elections are to be based on performance and on
merit rather than on zonal and tribal basis, then we are 90 per
cent sure. And I am sure that the silent Nigerians who are not
talking, who are not politicians, and who have seen what is
on the ground, will definitely vote for President Goodluck
Jonathan.
How do you see the preparedness of INEC to conduct the
elections?
From what we have seen, the performance of INEC has fallen
below standard and those of us, particularly in the PDP, are
very, very suspicious of the integrity of the chairman of INEC
(Prof Attahiru Jega) because we don’t know the reason his
political zone, the North West, has been given preference
against the other states.
I read yesterday (Wednesday) that all the states in the North
West have been given their PVCs and that the PVCs have
been distributed up to eighty-something, 90 per cent level. So,
I want to appeal and to urge Professor Jega and officials
under him to immediately change tactics and make sure that
all the states of the federation have equal distribution of
PVCs. If not, they cannot run away from the accusation that
they are being partial and they are favouring a particular
candidate. When you supply some states with PVCs and you
deny others with PVCs, then how can you escape from being
accused of impartiality? So, I appeal to them and I urge them
that unless they change between now and the end of the
month, we would urge the government to dissolve INEC and
bring in people who would perform impartially so as to pave
the way for free and fair elections.
So, you doubt the ability of Jega to conduct free and fair
elections?
I have told you that the evidence that I have seen so far has
created doubt in me as to whether Jega can be impartial. The
law is that it is an independent electoral commission, but how
can an independent electoral commission favour one zone
against the other? That is the question. We don’t know other
secret things that they are doing that nobody is aware of, but
the one of the distribution of the PVCs is very clear to
Nigerians that INEC, as it is constituted today, is partial, is
preparing ground for a particular candidate.
How do you see the response of Nigerians?
Nigerians are responding in a very angry manner. Or are there
no roads to carry PVCs to other states of the federation in the
North Central, in the South East and in the South South? So,
it is only in the North West that we have vehicles to carry
PVCs to? No explanation has been given by INEC why all the
states in the North West have been supplied with PVCs and
other states in the federation have not been supplied with
PVCs.
Going by your experience as an elder statesman and most
importantly, as a former senate president, how do you see the
forthcoming elections?
The forthcoming elections are going to be most peaceful and
if INEC could tighten its belt and perform impartially, it will
measure to international standard. And we in the PDP are
prepared. We are not using our governmental power. We are
the party in power, but we are not muscling anybody, we are
not removing anybody from office because of his impartiality.
So, the election will be free and fair if only INEC can behave
transparently in the eyes of Nigerians that what they are doing
is fair to all the states of the federation.
How are the forthcoming elections going to be different from
past elections?
The elections are going to be different from past elections in
the sense that the elections will be very, very peaceful.
Do you think the re-election of President Jonathan is good
omen for the country?
Yes. He has to continue because President Goodluck Jonathan
has performed creditably well and I don’t think Nigerians will
allow all the programmes that he has put in place, the railway
system, in the aviation sector and the development in
agriculture that we are becoming the number one economy in
the whole of Africa, I don’t think that Nigerians would want
this to stop by not re-electing President Goodluck Jonathan.
So, re-electing Jonathan is progress for this country so that
he could use the remaining four years to complete all the
programmes that he has started before any other person
would come and rubbish the situation.
His critics believe that the president has not handled
sufficiently, the insecurity ravaging the North East. What is
your take on this?
The insecurity that we are seeing now was created by top
officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) so that they
can accuse him of inability to suppress the insecurity. So,
Nigerians should be sensible enough to understand that the
people who started the insecurity are there and we know them
and they are the people who are saying that three months in
office, they will be able to suppress the insecurity. Oh! Yes, be­
cause the boys in the field, the Boko Haram, are their boys.
And once they come to power, they just call them to office
and ask them to stop because they encouraged them in the
first place. They financed them and they are working for them.
They are recruiting some fighters from outside, these top
officials of APC. So, they have the ability to stop them. But
that would be a very bad omen because so many lives have
already gone. And especially for the presidential candidate of
the APC who had truncated democracy in1983, there is a
saying in law that you cannot commit fraud and later try to
benefit from the fraud. You cannot truncate democracy and
say that you are a democrat; that you want to be elected on
the platform of a political party.
So, there is no hope for General Buhari?
My vote is only one, so I cannot say there is no hope for him.
He could have hope depending on what Nigerians say.
Upon his emergence as the APC presidential candidate, it
was learnt that there was panic at the PDP secretariat. What
accounted for this?
There was no panic. His emergence cannot create panic
because this is not the first time that Jonathan is contesting
with Buhari. He contested with him in 2011 and Jonathan
defeated him. So, why should anybody panic in the PDP
because Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the
APC?
But he seems to be getting more approbation, more followers
across the country more than ever before. How do you see
this trend?
Well, the people that you see, the crowd that come out, are
always bought by political parties. People come out, believing
that because of the very small hardship in the country, they
could benefit and that they could be given something. So, it is
not genuine crowd. They are usually bought.
The forthcoming elections are largely believed would go by
tribal and religious inclinations. What’s responsible for this?
In the previous presidential elections, we have made it. But
now, some people have come out. Senator Bola Tinubu and
some die-hards from the North West have come out to say
that those two zones alone can produce the president. That is,
the South West and the North West. So, they have ganged up
on the basis of tribe to say that they have the capacity to
produce the president and that is what we are going to see.
My message for Nigerians is that they should vote irrespective
of tribal sentiments; that they should vote on the basis of
merit and performance for the unity of this country.