The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has rejected reported plans by the electoral commission to postpone the forthcoming National Assembly election in nine states.
Instead, the party urged the commission to re-draw the election time-table to give the commission enough time to reprint defective ballot papers or take stock of the ballots used last Saturday in the affected states.
In a statement on Tuesday, the party through its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, warned that “failure to hold the National Assembly poll on the same day across the country would be an invitation to rigging, thuggery and violence.
“Anything short of a simultaneous holding of the National Assembly elections across the country on Saturday is not acceptable to our party,” the statement affirmed.
The party suggested to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to re-draw the entire electoral timetable and hold the gubernatorial election this weekend, followed by the national assembly elections and then the presidential polls.
“Instead of a fresh postponement of the National Assembly election in the nine states, as reported, the commission should go ahead and hold Governorship and State Assembly elections on Saturday, April 9th, get the materials needed for the National Assembly poll ready and hold it on April 16th and then the Presidential election on April 26th,” the party suggested.
It reckoned that “nothing is sacrosanct about the present order of elections, which was imposed on INEC by the National Assembly for their own selfish reasons.” It further cited a court ruling that pronounced INEC as the constitutionally-mandated authority to prescribe the order of elections.
According to the statement, this is a golden opportunity for INEC to assume that responsibility and re-order the elections along the lines the party suggested, claiming that the commission is “reportedly not ready to hold the National Assembly in all parts of the country this Saturday.” The party, which has always clamoured for true federalism, stated that “such an action by INEC will also be in line with true federalism” noting that, “in a true federalist state, the federating states come first. That means the order of the Governorship and State House of Assembly poll, followed by the National Assembly and then the Presidential election.” The ACN said its persistent call for strict adherence to the right way of doing things, as far as the 2011 general elections are concerned, is in the overall interest of Nigerians and the growth of democracy.
“When we said that the January date for the general elections, as announced by INEC, was not feasible, some critics slammed us. Well, they have now seen that even when the elections were eventually moved to April, INEC is still not fully ready. We will continue to advise INEC to ensure that the 2011 general elections are successful,” the party said.