NPC SAGA: 25 COMMISSIONERS MOVE AGAINST ODIMEGWU ...DOUBT COMMENCEMENT OF 2016 POPULATION CENSUS

Twentyfive commissioners in the National Population Commission (NPC), on Tuesday, held a closed-door meeting in Abuja to facilitate the removal of the present Chairman of the commission, Chief Festus Odimegwu.
The commissioners, who refused to talk to news men, said that a letter had been written to President Goodluck Jonathan, to that effect.
The meeting which lasted for few hours had in attendance, the Commissioner of NPC, Oyo State, Lateef Gbadamosi, FCT commissioner, Tunde Lakoju and others.
In a new development, a source in the commission disclosed that the 25 commissioners were meeting to debate on the present situation in the commission and discuss the replacement of the chairman. They alleged that since his inauguration in the last 18 months, there had not been any changes in the commission.
While speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, the source also expressed doubts over the commencement of the 2016 national population census, stating that certain demarcation were supposed to be made four years before the census, but had been pending due to the rifts in the commission.
In his words,” they have written to the President and we passed votes of no confidence against him. They have inaugurated you as chairman of NPC, you have not done anything for the past one and a half years. You see even the 2016 census is not possible because we should be doing demarcation exercise now, in fact four years before the time but it is not picking, up. “We are not capable of removing anybody but we are just saying we don’t want him as the chairman, they should give us another chairman. He can still be part and parcel of the commission.” he said.
It will be recalled that the Presidency had queried the chairman over his reported comments on the nation’s past census, which quotes “the country had not had any credible census since 1816.”
The chairman, however, blamed the irregularity on the distortion and falsification of figures for selfish and political reasons, adding that If the current laws are not amended, the planned 2016 census may not succeed.
Source: Tribune