“President Jonathan Meant Well For Democracy In Our Country” – Jega

Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega has revealed that former president Goodluck Jonathan was supportive of the commission during his tenure.

Jega said this in an interview with Jamie Hitchen, a policy researcher at the Africa Research Institute, Daily Post reports.

He said the former president never gave him any reason to suspect there was a willful attempt to sabotage the funding of INEC.

He said the one time his government attempted interfering with INEC was in the run up to the 2015 elections, questioning INEC’s decision to use electronic card readers.

He said INEC was however able to remind them that they supported and funded the idea. He said:

The administration of Goodluck Jonathan, president from 2010 to 2015, never gave any reason to suspect that there was a deliberate and wilful attempt to emasculate the funding of INEC.

For this they should be applauded. No situation arose where we had to go cap-in-hand to the executive looking for funding and I must add that when supplementary funding was needed, it was nearly always forthcoming.

For most of the time during our tenure, President Jonathan tried not to personally interfere with the Commission’s work.

Only in the run-up to the 2015 election did his government and ruling political party seek to interfere with the decision of INEC to use electronic card readers.

We were able to remind them that they had supported the idea and funded it. Overall I think that President Jonathan meant well for democracy in our country, a view strengthened by the gracious way he conceded electoral defeat in 2015.