Nobody Will Go To War Over Outcome Of Election - GEJ

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday said there will be no further shift of the date for the general elections and that he will handover to whoever wins the polls come May 29, as according to him, nobody will go to war over the outcome of the contest. He also denied planning to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega ahead of the rescheduled general elections. Fielding questions from a team of journalists during a Presidential Media Chat, Jonathan said: “I have not told anybody I am going to remove Jega, I have not said so. There is a lot of misinformation that goes to the public and that is one thing that makes me sad in this country.” In an answer to a question on whether he has confidence in Jega, Jonathan said: “How I wish Jega is here? He would be in the right position to say whether I have confidence in him or not.” Describing speculations on plots to either sack the INEC boss or cause him to resign as some pressure groups had canvassed recently as political, the President said in politics, people make statements to support their own cause, “all because they feel they are close to me.” “It is not what somebody says. Ask Jega, he will tell you. After all, it is the President that appoints the INEC chairman and all the Resident Electoral Commissioners in the states. I have the constitutional power to appoint and remove. But I have not told anybody I will remove Jega.” He added that all such speculations about Jega are borne out of ignorance. He however hastened to add that the constitution empowers the person who appoints to also remove. On insurgency, President Jonathan said with the efforts of the joint military operations against Boko Haram, the terrorists are increasingly being isolated. He said in Adamawa State where a chunk of the Local Governments were taken over by insurgents before now, only Madagali LG is being held by Boko Haram. He was optimistic that before the general elections, the entire state would be free of insurgents. After then, Jonathan added, Internally-Displaced Persons, IDPs will be returned to their homes ahead of the polls. With efforts so far, the President said, “Boko Haram are being isolated.” On the postponement of the elections, the President said he was not consulted before the announcement, saying “I don’t decide dates of elections”. He recalled that in 2011, he was already in his hometown, Otuoke, Bayelsa State to vote when INEC boss announced the postponement of election by two weeks. President Jonathan also posited that the piece of advice offered by the Security Chiefs that the polls be shifted should not be an issue. He cleared the air on the issue of corruption by saying that Nigerians mistake stealing for corruption and that what happens in the country is mostly stealing and not corruption, adding that a thief should be called a thief and not corrupt to drive home the point. According to him, “A thief should be called a thief. People use corruption to cover many things. If somebody is incompetent, he will be called corrupt. I quoted former Chief Justice of the Federation, Mustapha when I said stealing is not corruption. “The word corruption has been abused and seems to be making no meaning. ICPC is not the only agency setup to deal with corruption. We have convicted more people more than any other administration, but that has not stopped corruption. Even the stealing in fertiliser has disappeared.” He explained that the $1billion loan he took to equip the military has not been used and will not be tampered with since it will be disbursed from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to the country selling the arms. He also explained that the money confiscated by South Africa was yet to be returned but that it belongs to the company that sold the arms to Nigeria, adding that the matter is in court. The company, he said, has already delivered the arms. - See more at: http://nigerianpilot.com/nigeria-wont-go-war-polls-says-jonathan/#sthash.M8TzmEho.dpuf`