Accord Is Not In Support Of Election Postponement – Ladoja

The Governorship Candidate of ACCORD in Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, has revealed that the party is not in support of the postponement of the general elections in Nigeria. He made this declaration during a conversation on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a shift in the general elections dates to March 28 and April 11. The former Oyo State Governor said that there was no valid reason for the INEC to make such decision. “We felt that Nigeria must start having the possibility of forecasting what is going to happen. “You cannot just give a date about a year ago and all of a sudden you’re changing the date. Irrespective of what must have been happening we believe that a time has come for Nigerians to start having some measure of reliability,” he said. Professor Jega had told the media that the commission’s decision was not influenced by any group or individuals but mainly based on the security situation in parts of the country, but Ladoja was of the view that there was more to the shift. Although he said that his frustration was not directed only at the INEC Chairman but to all Nigerians on the need to have a general change of attitude towards planning and schedule, he insisted that insecurity could not have been the only reason for the postponement. “Maybe Jega himself is not really ready for the elections,” he said. He went further to cite the low distribution rate for the Permanent Voter Cards as a pointer to the possibility of the electoral body not being ready. Ladoja also noted that Professor Jega’s Saturday briefing showed that about one-third of Nigerians could have been disenfranchised with the challenge of PVC distribution. “What he told us was that he will use the opportunity of the six weeks now to step up the collection of the PVC. “Why does he have to wait until this postponement? Does it mean that he was expecting that there was going to be a postponement and that was why he wasn’t giving all to the PVC?” he asked. Ending Insurgency In Six Weeks The Oyo strong man also believes Nigeria could do better with foreign support in its fight against insurgency. He said during the conversation that the comments of the international community on the recent election postponement by INEC were not enough. He would rather want them to offer support in fighting the insecurity upon which INEC based its decision. While acknowledging that he had no understanding of how wars are fought, he said that no one can predict when a war or insurgency would end. Therefore, he wondered how the insurgency which has taken the country years to fight would be fought and banished within the six weeks that INEC shifted for. “Except they are saying now that because the African Union has now come in with multinational forces, maybe they can solve the problem in six weeks,” he said.