Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has disclosed that he was happy when the March 28 presidential poll produced a clear winner. In his first public comment on the March 28 and April 11 elections, he said a presidential run-off would have led to a crisis in the country as there was no way INEC could have successfully conducted a run-off election within seven days as provided for in both the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act. “I heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the election did not result to a run-off. That would have occasioned a big constitutional crisis. This is in view of the fact that the 1999 Constitution only made provision for seven days for such poll. You and I know that there was no way we would have been able to conduct a run-off within seven days. This is why I emphasise that amendments to the electoral laws should be done in good time. We could have further sanitised the electoral process if we had got some of the amendments we required in the Electoral Act,” the INEC boss stated.
