By Daniel Idonor
REPORTS that President Goodluck Jonathan said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was scared of the emergence of Prof. Attahiru Jega as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were, yesterday, described as outright falsehood.

A close associate of the President, told Vanguard that the President said that some people were saying that Jega was a radical who would not succumb to any pressure, but that he reportedly assured them that the party must work hard and present the best candidates because there would be no room for manipulations.

The source said that President Jonathan remained the leader of the PDP and as such cannot set out to ridicule the party he worked hard to build.

Vanguard gathered that PDP’s swift reaction to the report while the President was still abroad was also an overreaction. The leadership of the party had, Friday, reacted sharply to the report declaring that it was not scared of the appointment of the former Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano, BUK, Jega, as the new INCE boss

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Ahmed Alkali, in the reaction said rather than be scared of the appointment of Jega, the party stalwarts welcomed his emergence.

However, Prof. Alkali  who believed that the President was quoted out of context said: “Contrary to the insinuation, the Peoples Democratic Party welcomes the nomination. We wish to reiterate that Prof. Jega’s choice is further proof of President Goodluck Jonathan’s commitment to free, fair and credible elections.”