Jega must go, Gani Adams, Nollywood stars insist at Lagos rally

Hard knocks came the way of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Monday from the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams, and some Nollywood artistes.
To them, if Jega is allowed by President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to conduct the March 28 and April 11 general elections, there will be crisis.
This is due to the lack of preparation of the INEC boss “for the important elections”.
They spoke at a rally organised in Lagos undes the aegis of the Coalition of Concerned Nigerians, consisting of OPC, Nollywood artistes and human rights activists.
Said Adams at the event: “Jega would have seriously embarrassed Nigeria if the elections had been allowed to commence on February 14 as scheduled by INEC. We are holding this peaceful protest to register our displeasure at Jega on the way he has been handling preparations for this important election. We have also made our position known on Jonathan. Jega is plotting to create chaos and national unrest in Nigeria. If the February election had held, 34% of Nigerians from the South-West would have been disenfranchised because they were yet to get their PVCs. Jega should proceed on terminal leave and let a credible Nigerian be appointed to conduct the elections”.
Paul Obazele, who spoke on behalf of the scores of Nollywood artistes at the rally, accused the INEC chairman of “playing ethnic politics and disenfranchising prospective voters in the process”.
The protest, which started from the old Lagos Toll Gate on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, saw the participants going through the popular Ikorodu Road before ending it at the National Stadium in Surulere.
Popular Fuji musicians, Saheed Osupa and Abass Akande Obesere, with Nollywood artistes thrilled the crowd.
To ensure that the protest was not hijacked, policemen monitored it from the beginning to the end
The protest practically grounded traffic in many parts of Lagos State and it also affected the Ogun State axis of Lagos – Ibadan Expressway
Commuters had a hectic day as many of them were forced to walk a long distance as a result unending gridlock created by the protest.
Various placards with the inscriptions: ‘Prof Jega must go’, ‘Prof Jega is partisan’, ‘Give us our PVC’, were conspicuously displayed by the protesters.
Said some of the protesters: “Over five million people are yet to collect their PVCs in the South-West , over 2.5 million in the South-South and two million in the South-East while Jega claimed to have recorded 90% distribution in the North despite the high level of insecurity present in the North-East.
“Foreigners from Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroun had been registered to vote. Over one million PVCs have been recovered from them by security agencies and Jega could not give an explanation. He has created an additional 30,000 polling units. He is just playing the Northern card which is unacceptable to us.”