We Are Not Under Pressure, Jega Defends 2015 Election Timetable

The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has explained in a statement that the commission was not under pressure from anybody while planning the 2015 election timetable.

He said INEC was mindful of its own operational effectiveness and global best practices in grouping national elections together on one day, and state elections together on another day.

The timetable recently announced by INEC had fixed the National Assembly and presidential elections for February 14, 2015 while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections would hold on February 28, 2015.

Jega, according to a statement issued on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kayode Idowu, made the clarification during a forum where he presented a paper titled, “2015 Elections in Nigeria: Expectations and Challenges organised by Africa Programme unit.

He said, “Nobody has put us under any pressure. We did these things logically and rationally, in terms of what we considered best for our country. As far as we are concerned, the presidential election is not positioned first. What we did is that we combined the national elections, so you can’t say that presidential election is placed first.”

The INEC chairman also disagreed with suggestions that the elections were drastically reordered, when compared to 2011.