Following the ongoing drama about plot to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, some legal practitioners have given two reasons why the umpire will remain in office.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega
The Nation on Tuesday reported that legal practitioners have told President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve any plan to send the INEC chairman on terminal leave because it cannot be accomplished.
The legal experts said there is no law or regulation that compels political appointees to proceed on terminal leave; and the timing is “inauspicious and not strategic.”
Meanwhile, the legal experts’ advice emphatically said “political appointees are not subject to terminal leave”.
It is believed that with the legal obstacle, the Presidency may have dumped the option of asking Jega to go on leave even though the President had earlier stated that he has the power to remove the INEC boss, but also cleared the air that, Jega has not done anything to warrant his removal.
A government official, who did not want to be named, said Jega will not be removed or asked to go on leave, revealing that the comment of the supervising Minister of Information, Mr. Edem Duke, has caused disquiet in the cabinet.
The official said some ministers believe that Duke’s inexplicit response to questions on Jega’s fate last Friday has been heating up the polity.
Recall that Duke said though Jonathan has no plan to sack Jega, “this is not to say that, if it is time for INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of public service rule will not take place when he has reached the age of retirement or exhausted his tenure.”
“I think we have been having this apprehension on Jega’s fate because of the politics which beclouded non-renewal of the tenure of ex-INEC Chairman Prof. Maurice Iwu. I think in managing Iwu’s exit, those behind it did not look at the legality of the process in asking him to proceed on leave,” the source said.
The government official further revealed that the Presidency was advised against allowing Jega to go on terminal leave because the “timing of the agitation is inauspicious and non-strategic,” but another top government official has said President Jonathan will not remove or ask Jega to proceed on terminal leave, noting that he has told the nation of his position and he will stand by his words.
Recall that there have been rumoured plots to remove the INEC chairman following his parley with the country’s major opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The call for Jega’s removal became intense when group and some alleged concerned Nigerians started raising questions about the closeness of the electoral commission boss to the opposition party although it was the opposition that initially blew the trumpet on the alleged plot to send Jega on terminal leave.
However, President Jonathan had earlier assured Nigerians and the international community that he has no plan to sack Professor Attahiru Jega, ahead of Nigeria’s general elections slated for March 28 and April 11.
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