Fani-Kayode: No plan to remove Jega

The House of Representatives had on Tuesday, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against removing Jega, saying his removal could derail the nation’s democracy. The House also resolved to subject anyone involved in moves to remove the INEC boss to judicial prosecution in Nigeria or at the International Criminal Court (ICC). But briefing newsmen in Abuja on […]

Fani-Kayode: No plan to remove Jega
Fani-Kayode: No plan to remove Jega

The House of Representatives had on Tuesday, warned President Goodluck Jonathan against removing Jega, saying his removal could derail the nation’s democracy.

The House also resolved to subject anyone involved in moves to remove the INEC boss to judicial prosecution in Nigeria or at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

But briefing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, director, media and publicity of the PDP presidential campaign organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode insisted that there was no such plan to remove the INEC chairman ahead of the rescheduled general elections.

He said the March 28 and April 11 dates scheduled for the elections remain sacrosanct adding that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) would suffer crushing and irreversible defeat in the elections.

“This morning through its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the APC has made a series of absurd and clearly ludicrous claims and allegations. It is clear that these claims and allegations are nothing but the paranoid ranting of a paranoid little man that is working for a paranoid party.

“Rather than trying to prepare his masters’ minds for the defeat that is coming their way, Lai Mohammed has come again with his verbal diarrhea. The truth is that we are not strategizing to shift the election dates. We are not trying to frame up Jega. We have no plans to plant any illegal substance in the bags of any of the leaders of the APC whenever they travel.

“We are not trying to compromise the telephone numbers of any of the INEC officials. President Jonathan is not planning to arrest opposition leaders before the elections. The Presidency has not retained the services of any foreigner to corrupt or compromise INEC computers on election day and we are not planning to do any of the other reprehensible things that they have alleged. We take exception to their fiction and false claims and we will not take this matter lightly,” he said.

Fani-Kayode said it is the APC that had perfected a plan to rig the forthcoming elections through what he termed “the lopsided” distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) adding that the proposed use of card readers by the commission is to frustrate accreditation in some parts of the country while not enforcing strict use of the machines in some other parts.

The spokesman said the PDP would resist any attempt by the opposition to rig the elections.