The Man Attahiru Jega

[Abu-Fatima]

I read today that the said commisioners might likely be removed. I smelt something fishy about the whole thing. Is the president saying he wasn't aware that they are PDP members when he appointed them as electoral commisioners?

Thats President GEJ's style ;) abracadabra: the more you see; the less you understand.

[HUSNAA]

Ni tsiyata da ku Nigerians shine ba zaku taba daukar abu at its face value ba sai kun kawo hidden motives and counter motives. Dan Allah give GJ a chance mana!! Ya nada Jega, let our best prayers be for the good of the country, not for whether ana blocking some other zone's chances of producing a Northerner as a prez. Ni as long as za ai adalci kuma kasa ta ci gaba, biri ma yazo ya zama shugaban kasa.
Shi kuma Jega, ai an zabe shi ne akan merit. Sai wanda ya san BUK yadda take a da kuma ya ganta yanzu, kuma ya san yadda Jega yayi gwagwarmaya da IBB lokacin yana shugaban kasa, yasan cewa lallai Jega is a diamond in the rough, kokuwa ma a rare specimen of Nigerian humanity. He is as of now incorruptible and we hope he remains so, and as far as I am concerned,GJ saw that incorruptible quality in him and went for it.
Why cant we give shi GJ the benefit of the doubt and just believe that he is trying to act in a sincere manner? Why should we always attribute covert motives to actions even when they look genuinely genuine and above board as far as fair play goes? Are we trying to tell ourselves that we have become so jaded that we cant get at least one person whom we can attribute some goodness to?
Jega maybe one good egg in a crate of supposedly bad eggs, but we all know one has to have a good captain at the helm of a
ship, for it to sail smoothly and without mutiny. So whatever and whoever the INEC  lieutenants are, they will generally follow the leader as it were, if for nothing other than to save their jobs, and if u have good organization as one member here pointed out, (and Jega is phenomenal at organizing!!), then I dont see why we cant have credible elections in Nigeria.
I tend to lean towards (or away from) individuals based on what I see not what I surmise will happen. So take heart don Allah, u diehard skeptics, and give GJ a chance!!

[Dan-Borno]

Now i can see where Husnaa is heading for the first time
in kanoonline supporting a government decision - lol this
time around we are birds of the same feather.

Jega, a sa wuta, your first step is the immediate redeployment
of all the top  officials (Directors) and bring in new ones to
avoid sabotage.

[gogannaka]

Husnaa, we were only voicing our concern over the nomination of PDP members as INEC commissioners.
It is so serious that GJ has now told the PDP NEC that he will drop all card carrying members of the PDP from INEC.
Tell me how you expect credible elections to be held if the electoral body is filled with PDP members.
We are not just pointing it out for opposition purposes.

Here are his words:
"It was just like we came up with the list of people that would be in INEC and people raised some issues that some of them had played key roles in political parties.
"It is difficult to say that this man is not in a political party, but if he plays some key roles in the political, then, of course, there is no way he would not be biased.

"We said look, we are going to withdraw those people and we have written letters to withdraw them.  So, we feel the pulse of Nigerian and we promise Nigerians that we will do our best to make sure that their votes count.
"In terms of governance, for the remaining period we will be in office, we will do our best in the area of good governance."

Thank God he has decided to drop the PDP members. I say he gives Jega a chance to nominate the commissioners. That makes the commission more independent.

On Thursday, i boarded a plane with Prof Jega and i was amazed at his humility. He collected his boarding pass(himself) and patiently followed the boarding que. He did what every normal passenger did without being pompous or demanding VIP treatment. While at the que, a hefty man that looked like an 'honourable' came with his police orderly and asked if they've announced boarding to Kano and when he was told yes,quickly shunted the que and went straight to the screening point.
I saw in Jega a truly humble person that can sincerely organise credible elections.
May God help him.

[Bajoga]

@Aunty Huzaa, take it esay mana, is like kin bata ranki if we consider ur 1st managa. Gaskiya i agreed da aganarki cewa muyi musu addu'a which i think is d best.

[HUSNAA]

@Aunty Huzaa, take it esay mana, is like kin bata ranki if we consider ur 1st managa. Gaskiya i agreed da aganarki cewa muyi musu addu'a which i think is d best.

Hehehe ko kadan. havent u heard of stirring up the hornets'nest? S'what I'm doing ;D ;D see? i got GGNK to say something!!! as well as u!!! Never mind about DB,  he is carried in which ever direction the wind is blowing !!! hehehehe!!

[Lawwali]

 YES! being from that part of  our country that Jega works, I have been encountering questions about the truism of His integrity, and did my best to say what I know honestly about the man. I think it is really high time we put down the tools of croynism and un warranted conspiracy theories and face the realities of our days. There is no way we can get credible elections where the president did not appoint a credible person atleast somebody that will be accepted as such by all sections of Nigeria. And I think that is what he actually did. Now the president have nominated the chairman and commissioners and he made sure all partisans were dropped. This is good. However, unlike what GGNK advocated; I dont think the constitution allows anybody but the president to nominate the commisioners. Atleast we can celebrate an achievement where the Rightists and the leftists unanimously agreed on an issue in the country- Jega's appointment. I dont think there was any point in our history that we collectively agreed with any one govt action but now. :-\ :-\

[gogannaka]

University teachers Monday spoke on the appointment of Prof Attahiru Jega, as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said he got the job as an individual and not as its representative.

He is on his own, ASUU said.

The teachers also dismissed next year's general election, saying Nigerians should not expect credible, free and fair polls. They believed that there is no enough time for INEC members "to achieve meaningful changes in the system."

Speaking during a press conference at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU), Umudike, Abia State Monday, the President of the union, Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, said Prof Jega took the appointment on his personal credibility, adding that the new INEC man may not be able to bring the much needed change in the electoral system if the right environment was not created for credible election.

His words: "Yes, we believe he has honour and he is one of us, but we know that until the value system, structure and attitude of politicians to power changes, there may not be free and fair elections in the true sense of it. We hope Jega would be able to do the right thing, but we should not delude ourselves of having a free and fair poll with the characters on stage right now. The environment for credible poll has not been created".

Prof Awuzie called for enough political education by the governments at all levels for the electorate, adding that it is even difficult for the electorate to vote the right candidate.

He wondered how credible polls could hold when the state governments won all the seats in local government elections, and the Federal Government controls the police and army and other agencies needed to ensure such credibility in the polls.

The AASUU president said that achieving credible election is not really the problem in the country, but emergence of credible candidates through credible process is the major problem and called for proper way to see that credible candidates emerges during congresses.
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I wonder when Nigerian's will become positive minded.
The statement by ASUU above show how generally pessimistic we are.
I don tire!

[bakangizo]

We are a pessimistic bunch agreed. But not without reason. There's sense in what they are saying. When the head of the electoral body doesn't appoint his lieutenants, one can't be too confident. Witness how the the federal govt tried to "smuggle" in PDP card carrying members as Commisioners, but for the vigilance of the Press and the people. The whole system needs overhauling. However, his appointment gives hope.

We've had Maurice Iwuruwuru. I hope this won't be Attahiru Jegajaga.