The Punch reports that thousands of Odua Peoples Congress and the Coalition of Concerned Nigerians members loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party took to three major roads in Lagos on Monday demanding the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega. The protesters, who wore T-shirts with PDP inscriptions and pictures of President Goodluck Jonathan, started gathering in front of the Federal Road Safety Commission near the old Lagos Toll Gate on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as early as 7am.
From there, they proceeded on foot and in about 100 buses to the front of the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, causing traffic snarl on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ikorodu Road and Funso Williams(Western) Avenue in the city.
Policemen from the state command and soldiers attached to OP MESA provided security for the demonstrators who distributed Jonathan’s campaign leaflets to passers-by and motorists stuck in traffic. The leaflets contained the ‘‘achievements’’ of Jonathan.
Some of the protesters gave out fliers that bore the ‘‘sins’’ of Jega. One of the fliers read:
“Over five million people have yet to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards in the South-West; over 2.5 million persons in the South-South and two million in the South-East while Jega claimed to have recorded 90 per cent distribution in the North, despite the high level of insecurity in the North-East.
“There is illegal registration of underage voters in the North, registration of nationals of Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon. Over one million PVCs have been recovered from them by security agents and yet Jega cannot give an explanation.
“It is obvious that Jega is playing a well scripted Northern agenda as he has positioned northerners to the most sensitive INEC positions .
“The creation of over 30, 000 polling units now termed voting centres in the North against the South-West and awarding the contract of sensitive INEC materials such as PVCs and ballot papers to foreign companies traced to APC leaders.
“Plotting to create chaos and unrest in Nigeria by insisting on holding elections on February 14 when he was aware that 34 per cent of Nigerians in the South-West had yet to obtain their PVCs.”
Some of their placards read, “Jega must go”, Jega pushing Northern agenda.”
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