…holds crucial meeting with RECs today

BY BEN AGANDE
CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said the other elections to be conducted by the commission would be better, as it would be guided by the lessons learnt from the National Assembly polls.

Prof Jega, who disclosed this when he met with United States of America Under Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr. Johnny Carlson, in his office yesterday, said the commission was exploring all avenues to ensure that the challenges noticed during the last elections were tackled.

According to him, his meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners today is part of the strategy being employed by the commission to consult with all stakeholders on how best to improve on the conduct of the elections.

He added that a similar meeting was being planned with other stakeholders, including security agencies, in order to improve on the challenges encountered during last Saturday’s elections.

Earlier in his remarks, the United States Under Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnny Carlson, enjoined the commission to build on the successes recorded during the National Assembly elections as a foundation towards a successful presidential election.

He said last Saturday’s elections provided Nigerians an opportunity to vote for candidates of their choice, while expressing hope that “the general success achieved in this first round will be carried over to the next two elections and the technical and security shortcomings in the first round will lead to improvements over the next two weeks.

“We are encouraged by the overall progress toward democracy demonstrated by Saturday’s elections.”

The United States envoy pointed out that despite violence and some organisational issues, Nigerian voters enthusiastically went to the polls Saturday, convinced that they had a say in choosing their political leaders and returned home, believing that their votes would be fairly counted.

“This is an important achievement for Nigerian democracy. Political intimidation has no place in any democracy, including that of Nigeria, and Nigerians should know that the U.S. will take due note of anyone condoning or supporting such  acts,” he said.