INEC, others ignored my warning


The postponement of election by one week confirms how some important and sensitive intelligence information are toyed with and taken for granted, if not why did the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wait till 2am few hours to the election to announce postponement.

No matter what defence the body would give regarding the postponement, we have been exonerated by our earlier warnings that the INEC chairman and some of his federal commissioners are protégés of the PDP. The action of INEC jeopardised the interest of the nation and its people, especially poor people who used their hard earned resources to transport themselves to their respective places of registration as voters.

The electoral body set up logistics committee made up of the armed forces, police, Civil Defense, DSS and other paramilitary agencies but omitted the Vehicle Inspection Offices who have the constitutional powers to inspect the road worthiness of vehicles hired to convey electoral materials to all the nooks and crannies of the country.

The INEC chairman cited poor logistics supply and transportation arrangement as reasons for the postponement, how? When a logistics committee made up of the armed forces, police and others got inaugurated earlier, how come these hitches were experienced? All this is mere laxity and sabotage on the part of the electoral body.

It has been insinuated that some foreign bodies in connivance with the major opposition party as well as their collaborators orchestrated plans to ensure that elections don’t hold as scheduled. I was among the people that raised these issues in some of my media chats with some television and radio stations. Above all, it appears that the intelligence arm of the Police and other security agencies ignored our clarion call borne out of our patriotic zeal as bona fide Nigerian citizens.

Within the years of my experience, I have been able to disclose sensitive intelligence information that were utilised and helped in tackling issues.

In Nigeria, however, it is only when the president, governors, senators or ambassadors speak or make statements that we seem to take serious and attach importance to, but whenever any other Nigerian speaks, it is treated with levity. What then is the importance of the logistics committee constituted earlier? Is it that they were only on a jamboree or Nollywood auditioning? From the entire security arrangement, it can’t be described to be as serious as it was in 2015.

Mohammed Bello Shehu,

Abuja.

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