Presidential candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Sokoto State Governor His Excellency Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, has said that, contrary to the general anxiety over INEC’s conducts, he is of the view that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero is being kept in place to ensure that next month’s polls are rigged. Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa made this assertion on Wednesday, 28th March, when he held a lengthy meeting with the Alliance for Credible Elections and the Transition Monitoring Group.



Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, explaining his position, said it was common knowledge that the IGP had reached retirement age last year but had his tenure extended by the President in spite of the worsening security situation in the country. At the expiration of that extension, Mr Sunday Ehindero was granted another one that would only expire after the election. The DPP presidential candidate expressed his belief that Mr Ehindero was already showing his gratitude by being unduly hard on opposition party candidates, giving instances of arbitrariness such as the detention of a Gombe State gubernatorial candidate over an offence which he said was bailable. “Everybody is shouting ‘INEC! INEC!! INEC!!!’ but I don’t see INEC as the problem,” he said. “When you register to vote and you cast your votes, there is nothing else INEC can do. The problem of Nigerian elections is the police.”



Bafarawa, while receiving the coalitions of civil society groups, said he was worried that there is a prevalent clamour for credible elections but avowed that credible politicians, which are the ingredients for credible elections, are lacking. He said unlike he who is a career politician, many other Nigerians lacked historical antecedents of service to the people and belief in democratic ideals.



“With all this faulty foundation,” His Excellency added, “how can we expect credible elections? This is my own view, my worry. But we shall keep doing our best, in consultation with well-meaning groups like yours.”



Governor Bafarawa pledged commitment to issue-based campaigns and specifically stated that the Niger Delta issue was a national sore and not a regional problem as it is being handled by this administration and the ones before it. As a solution to the perennial and worsening conflicts in the Niger Delta, Bafarawa asserted that he had studied the problem closely and that he would scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission or any such agency as soon as he gets into office as president. “NDDC is a commission of corruption,” Bafarawa said. “Those who do not have ministerial appointments are given such lucrative commissions so that they can steal money. Niger Delta problem needs a political solution not military solution. I believe that if Obasanjo goes to talk to the youths for one hour, they will listen to him.”



On the proposed presidential debate being promoted by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group, of which the Alliance for Credible Elections is a member, Alhaji Bafarawa stated categorically that he wouldn’t attend the event. Asked why, he said this was because he was being paired with Habu Fari, the presidential candidate of the NDP, which believes that the elections should not hold.



“Which debate am I going for? They paired me with Habu Fari, someone who took INEC to court saying elections should not hold. It’s an insult! There are 419 presidential candidates. If they want me to come, they should pair me with Yar’Adua who is my contemporary as a governor and who wants elections to hold.”



He also believes that the opposition parties have not formed a strong coalition against the ruling PDP because of selfish interests but that the reality would dawn on them in the coming days, leading to the formation of the necessary mega coalition.



The Alliance for Credible Elections, led by Mr Emma Ezeazu, has held meetings with the major presidential aspirants in order to ensure that they make commitments to credible, violence-free elections. So far they have visited General Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Attahiru Bafarawa. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is yet to give a date for the meeting.