INEC is working for tenure extension... Atiku
From; KABIRU YUSUF, Abuja

The Atiku campaign organisation has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of allegedly working with the presidency to ensure tenure extension of Obasanjo administration beyond May, 29, 2007.
The campaign office however described the insinuation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that numerous court cases may force the April elections not to hold as a confirmation of its earlier alert that INEC is in cahoots with President Olusegun Obasanjo in his unyielding quest to extend his stay in power.
The national commissioner of INEC in charge of Information and Publicity, Mr Philip Umeadi had told the press on Wednesday that the number of court cases against INEC are too many and that negative decisions against INEC may make it impossible for the commission to conduct the April election.
According the Atiku campaign office, it is also instructive that the INEC commissioner sent to alert the nation of the impending failure of the election as originally scheduled is the direct son of the late Nigerian lawyer who played a prominent role in subverting the June 12, 1993 election and from which the adverse effect the nation is yet to fully recover from. No single family should be given a second chance to wreck this promising country” the campaign office maintained.
The Atiku Campaign Organisation was of the view that Umeadi was only confirming the suspicions of Nigerians that the INEC and President Obasanjo are hands- in- glove in the plot to extend Obasanjo’s stay in power beyond the constitutionally allowed May 29, 2007.
“We have alerted the nation several times in the past that President Obasanjo does not want to leave office on May 29. We have alerted the nation that INEC embarked on its illegal spate of disqualifications to create enough confusion for it to postpone the elections. Everything is coming together and the picture is becoming clear. The whole strategy is to make postponement of the handover date a fait accompli for Nigerians.”
The Atiku Campaign office further said, “If INEC has followed the constitution and the Electoral Act 2006; it would not have exposed itself to the court cases which it now claims threaten the April election. Most of the cases that INEC fears may derail the election are about the illegal disqualification of candidates.
If INEC had limited itself to preparations for the election rather than dabbling into the choice of candidates for the election, the campaign office added, it would not have exposed itself to most of these court cases.
“In any case, the court cases themselves are an integral part of the democratic process. Every decision of agencies of the state are subject to judicial review and INEC cannot be an exception,” the campaign organization argued.
The Atiku Campaign also urged Nigerians to take appropriate notice of the new song of President Obasanjo that election will hold even when it is clear that he was the unseen hand directing the affairs of INEC towards a postponement.
“The President has been affirming to hold election in his typical subterfuge; the same way he denied the third term attempt while deploying all state resources to achieve it.
“We implore INEC to extricate itself from the stronghold of President Obasanjo in his desperate move to extend his stay beyond May 29, 2007.
``As for Vice President Atiku Abubakar, he remains committed to vacating office on May 29, 2007, as stipulated by the constitution. He is not, and will never be part of the evil plot to subvert the Nigerian Constitution”, the campaign office said.