A
abujagirl
Guest
Professor Attahiru Jega, outgoing Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), last weekend during a programme hosted in Lagos by EbonyLife TV said his position was never threatened before the elections.
According to THIS DAY, Jega said, ''In our country, anything is possible. Frankly, the rumour mill in our country is incredible; a lot is manufactured, circulated and assumes a life of its own.
''Sincerely, I did not feel that I was under any threat, nobody threatened me and at no time was my security detail withdrawn. Even as I was sitting down at the collation centre, I even got text messages that my security men had been withdrawn, and they were there around me. So there were a lot of things that were said that weren’t true.
''The same thing was said that I was asked to go on retirement or proceed on leave. A lot of rumours about me being asked to proceed on leave were not true. Nobody or authority asked me to proceed on retirement or go on leave, and I never contemplated going on leave because I knew there was a job to be done.
''So I thought it was inconceivable for anybody to think that the leadership of INEC was contemplating leaving at that time. There were a lot of stories then that were untrue but that doesn’t mean we were not careful. Again, knowing the nature of our country, we have to be very careful at any point. Personally, I had to assume the worst and prepared for the worst but we thank God it did not come to that''.
According to THIS DAY, Jega said, ''In our country, anything is possible. Frankly, the rumour mill in our country is incredible; a lot is manufactured, circulated and assumes a life of its own.
''Sincerely, I did not feel that I was under any threat, nobody threatened me and at no time was my security detail withdrawn. Even as I was sitting down at the collation centre, I even got text messages that my security men had been withdrawn, and they were there around me. So there were a lot of things that were said that weren’t true.
''The same thing was said that I was asked to go on retirement or proceed on leave. A lot of rumours about me being asked to proceed on leave were not true. Nobody or authority asked me to proceed on retirement or go on leave, and I never contemplated going on leave because I knew there was a job to be done.
''So I thought it was inconceivable for anybody to think that the leadership of INEC was contemplating leaving at that time. There were a lot of stories then that were untrue but that doesn’t mean we were not careful. Again, knowing the nature of our country, we have to be very careful at any point. Personally, I had to assume the worst and prepared for the worst but we thank God it did not come to that''.
