Shehu Sani Accuses Former VP, Ekwueme Of Fueling Sectional Attacks Against Jega

Alex Ekwueme-Attahiru Jega-Edwin ClarkKaduna based Civil rights activist, Malam Shehu Sani, has accused elder statesman and Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme of fuelling sectional attacks against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega.

Sani, reacting to the attack on the INEC chairman for allegedly favouring the North against the South in the delineation of constituency ahead of 2015 elections, said the statement of the elder statesman was without substance.

Sani, who is the Executive Director of the Civil Rights Congress, in a statement issued in Kaduna, said fuelling sectional attacks against Jega would not help the country, adding that the INEC boss, who conducted an election, which gave President Goodluck Jonathan victory against a northerner, could not be said to be planning a hidden agenda against the South.

The statement reads: “The allegations of sectional bias and the call for Prof. Attahiru Jega’s resignation by an elder statesman, Chief Alex Ekwueme and others stand condemned. The allegations are without substance and proof.

“INEC’s new polling units did not favour the North. In fact, going by the available statistics, the new polling units upgrades the South against the North. An instance is a situation whereby Anambra State with 1,784,563 registered voters was allocated 4,729 units and Jigawa State with 1,817,087 registered voters was allocated only 3,920 polling units.

“The overall statistics, which gave the North 54.6 per cent of the polling units for its 39,636,977 million voters and 44.2 per cent of the polling units for the South for its 29,853,822 registered voters is an evidence of data for analysis.

“The elder statesman is simply whipping up unnecessary sectional sentiment and targeting Prof. Jega and Dr. Nura Yakubu without any proof. It’s most unbecoming of Dr. Ekwueme, a former vice-president, to dwarf his esteemed status to a vendor of unsubstantiated allegations.

“The 2015 general elections face danger if those who ought to give hope and motivate Nigerians, resort to casting aspersions with ethnic and sectional tinge.

“Nigeria is facing a mountain challenge of armed insurrection and myriad of related political crisis. Fuelling the already charged atmosphere with sectional attack against INEC will not help the country. How can Prof. Jega, who supervised an election, which gave victory to President Jonathan, a southerner, against a northerner, be suspected of having a hidden northern agenda?”