ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – There are indications that the Presidency has lost confidence in the ability of Prof. Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the 2015 general elections.
Sources close to the Presidency told Sundiata Post that since Jega’s first tenure would end on June 13, he might be asked to proceed on three months terminal leave in compliance with civil service rules beginning from March 1.
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If that happens, the professor of political science will no longer be available to conduct the general elections rescheduled to hold on March 28 and April 11 for presidential/National Assembly and governorship/state assembly elections respectively.
A top source in the Presidency told Sundiata Post that the government’s displeasure is not that Jega is independent minded but that he had compromised his position by working with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
As to a probable replacement for Jega, the source said a professor from Borno was being considered. Another option, he told Sundiata Post, is that another professor of political science and vice chancellor of a tertiary institution from the Southwest was also being considered.
Whoever is nominated will have to be cleared by Senate before he becomes INEC chairman.