President and Military remain glued to election dates

Air Marshal Alex Badeh (Chief of Defence Staff)

President Goodluck Jonathan and the Defence Headquarters have assured Nigerians that efforts were being intensified to ensure that the general elections were held on March 28 and April 11 as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Their assurances came barely 24 hours after INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said he was not in a position to guarantee the sanctity of the new election dates. He was at the Senate to brief members on the electoral body’s preparedness for the elections had been asked to state categorically if the dates were sacrosanct.

Avoiding being committal, he replied, “I have said consistently that there are things under the control of the electoral commission and there are things that are not under the control of the electoral commission. For things that are under our control, I can give definite and categorical assurances...“There are certain questions that we are not really competent to answer. Certain questions should be directed to the military; they can answer them better.’’

But Jonathan, while inaugurating four naval platforms at the Naval Dockyard in Lagos on Thursday, said,   “We must conduct our elections as scheduled by INEC because within this period, we are convinced that we will return to a time when the activities of extremists will not affect our elections.”

He added at the ceremony that was attended by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice- Admiral Usman Jibrin; the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Minimah; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Adesola Amosu, and the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, that he was optimistic that the military would soon end insurgency in the North-East.

He added, “Let me use this platform to promise my good countrymen and women that we will rout Boko Haram. We are working hard day and night and I have directed that Nigerians be briefed regularly.

“The technical capacities of our men in the air force and army have been improved and we are pleased with what is happening. We commend the Chief of Defence Staff and all the services for what they are doing. We also commend other senior naval officers and ratings for this event.”

In Abuja, the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, told one of the National Dailies, The PUNCH that the military was doing everything possible to   ensure that the elections were not delayed again.