The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said that the short notice given for the conduct of governorship elections in states where the Supreme Court cut short the tenure of their governors was not to create a vacuum.
Jega spoke on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ forum organised by INEC for the 12 political parties and their candidates in the February 25 governorship election in Cross River State.
The states affected by the judgement were Kogi, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Adamawa and Cross River States.
While the commission is not conducting election in Kogi State but allowing the one it conducted there in December 2011, it has conducted the governorship elections in Adamawa, Sokoto and Bayelsa States.
The one for Cross River State is scheduled for this weekend.
Jega said the Electoral Act empowers INEC to fix dates for elections, adding: “INEC changed the timetable for the election because we were compelled by circumstances to do that.
“The judgment of the Supreme Court made it imperative for us to take another look at the time table. And in taking that look at the timetable, we had the advice of the best lawyers that we had consulted.
“Obviously, the reason that was uppermost in our minds in fixing the timetable as we rescheduled the elections had to do with the need not to allow continued vacuum in the governance in the states, where the Supreme Court said the tenure of the governors had expired.
“With that judgment of the Supreme Court, we all know that the governors vacated their offices and speakers of the State Houses of Assembly, who technically are supposed to preside over legislators and who the constitution only anticipated them to act for governorship positions under very unusual circumstances, had to take over.
“And for us, there was a compelling need to adjust to ensure that the vacancies are filled as soon as possible. That was primary and we did it legally from all the legal advice that we have had.
“The electoral Act and the constitution have given INEC the powers to issue timetable and we have issued the timetable and the timetable we issued obviously was conditioned by the circumstances under which we confronted ourselves.”
Jega denied having received any order stopping the election in Cross River, adding: “There is no court order as I speak with you stopping the election from taking place next Saturday.
“Somebody went and brought pressmen to put something in the news and we are speaking about it as if it is a fact. No order was served on us.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), we sent people to the court where it was said that the order had been given. And the court said it did not give any order.”