ABUJA – Forty-eight hours to the general elections in the country beginning with the National Assembly polls, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, declared yesterday that he was not under pressure to manipulate the electoral process in order to give undue advantage to anybody and that even if such pressure comes from any quarters, he would not oblige them.

Jega

Jega, who briefed editors in the country on INEC’s preparations for the polls also said the commission had already taken delivery of ballot papers and other sensitive electoral materials that would be used on Saturday.

He explained that the main target of the commission was to declare verified results within 48 hours after voting.

Giving further insight into novel measures by the commission to ensure that ills of  past elections are avoided, Jega said the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, would assist  INEC with their vehicles which have been fitted with special devices to  track  movement of sensitive electoral materials nation-wide.

He said ballot papers that would be used for the polls contain security features  which  would prevent  them  from being used in another unit if they are stolen.

The INEC Chairman further stated that the commission already had a credible voters register which is much better than what was used for the 2007 general elections, adding that  even though the register is not perfect,  some persons who were involved  in  multiple registration  have been detected and would soon be prosecuted.

He further said adequate preparations had been made for delivery of electoral materials on time to ensure that  voting begins on time on election days.  The INEC boss also assured the nation  that cases of late arrival of  electoral materials would be reduced drastically  and  might  only  occur in very remote parts of the country.

According to him, “Arrangements  have  been made with the Nigerian Air Force and Navy for delivery of electoral materials to different parts of the country.”

He also said the Commission had concluded compilation of nominated candidates of different parties for all the elections, adding that INEC faced serious legal challenges in compiling the final list of candidates.

Jega  further stated that the commission would deploy a minimum of 400,000 ad-hoc staff  for the polls, stressing that three of them would work in a polling unit alongside other field  supervisory personnel.

He explained that in places where NYSC  ad-hoc personnel were inadequate, students from Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions would be deployed alongside staff of federal civil service working in such places.

The  INEC  boss  stated that the Commission had worked on changing the attitude of its staff from what it used to be in the past through sensitization programmes and sanctions  where necessary. He also said that the commission will not usurp the powers of the security agencies who feel adequately concerned about the pre-election violence and have deployed their personnel to check manipulation.

Professor added that a situation room has been created in INEC office where complaints from aggrieved individuals will be received and given proper attention