By  Bartholomew Maduekwe

Lagos—The Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, yesterday, accused the Federal Government of allegedly reneging on its promise to implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.

Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, on the state of the nation, CLO’s Interim President, Comrade Igho Akeregha, said that the report of the 2014 National Conference was gathering dust at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, adding that the N7billion tax payers money spent on the conference must not be in vain.

Akeregba then and asked President Goodluck Jonathan to implement the recommendations without further delay.

Regretting that it was over four months that the Conference concluded its sittings with landmark recommendations, including contributions for a new constitution, nothing was being done to ensure that these recommendations were implemented.

Also, CLO expressed dissatisfaction over the process adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the distribution of the Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVC’s nationwide.

“Already, many registered voters risk being disenfranchised in the coming elections by INEC’s refusal to issue them with their PVC’s. INEC, by this unacceptable action, raises doubts on its readiness to conduct a credible, free and fair election that will be certified transparent and generally acceptable in 2015.

“CLO is also worried that the parties have conducted one of the worst primaries in the history of Nigeria. In some cases, candidates who won the primaries held where disqualified in preference to certain anointed candidates; while in some respects, multiple primaries were held in one state for the same category of election, thereby producing more than one candidates for the same position,” Akeregha stated.

The CLO then, demanded among other things, that INEC revisits the distribution of PVCs all over the country, especiaaly where the exercise was marred, so that those who were duly registered as voters and were not issued with their PVCs would get the voting material.