JONATHAN MAY REMOVE JEGA THIS WEEK

Reports reaching Societywatchng from Saharareporters.com has it that hawkish members of President Goodluck Jonathan’s inner circle have convinced him to move in an aggressive and decisive manner to remove Attahiru Jega as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) this week.

Sources within INEC as well as the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disclosed that, barring a last-minute change of heart, President Jonathan will go ahead this week to force Mr. Jega to embark on a terminal leave prior to the end of his year in the middle of 2015.

Our sources said the decision to remove Mr. Jega would open the door to appoint a new chairman, a national commisoner of INEC, Amina Bala Zakari,  who would be open to jettisoning the use of permanent voters cards and other anti-rigging technologies. “Once Prof. Jega is removed, Mr. President will nominate a new chairman who will declare that INEC is not ready to use PVCs. And once PVCs are removed, it will become easier to carry out major rigging,” an INEC source said.

He added that the Presidency had been able to use its massive slush funds, sourced from deals in the oil and energy sectors, to compromise a majority of INEC officials in the states. Over the last four years, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke has been stashing away funds that President Jonathan is now using to bribe electoral officials, traditional rulers, and even some members of the civil society groups. One PDP insider told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan had distributed more than $200 million to different groups since INEC postponed elections two weeks ago.

Several sources said the removal of Mr. Jega is a major part of a strategy developed by President Jonathan’s team to ensure that they win the presidential and other elections by hook or crook. The presidential election is now scheduled for March 28 while governorship and legislative polls will hold on April 11.

Two weeks ago, facing a groundswell of opposition and in the face of rising unpopularity, the PDP and Mr. Jonathan used a series of maneuvers to compel INEC to postpone elections for six weeks. SaharaReporters had detailed plans by Mr. Jonathan and his team to postpone elections in order to slow the momentum of the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.