Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made attempts to interfere with the 2015 general elections.

Jega, who made the revelation during an interview he granted Jamie Hitchen, a policy researcher at Africa Research Institute over the weekend however commended Jonathan for meaning well for the nation’s democracy by adequately funding the body and accepting defeat.

He said: “The administration of Goodluck Jonathan, President from 2010 to 2015 never gave any reason to suspect that there was a deliberate and willful attempt to emasculate the funding of INEC.

“For this they should be applauded. No situation arose where we had to go cap-in-hand to the executive looking for funding and I must add that when supplementary funding was needed, it was nearly always forthcoming.

“For most of the time during our tenure, President Jonathan tried not to personally interfere with the commission’s work. Only in the run-up to the 2015 election did his government and ruling political party seek to interfere with the decision of INEC to use electronic card readers.

“We were able to remind them that they had supported the idea and funded it. Overall I think that President Jonathan meant well for democracy in our country, a view strengthened by the gracious way he conceded electoral defeat in 2015.”

He further said that the commission was able to effectively and efficiently prepare for and prosecute the 2015 general elections by virtue of the experiences it gained from the 2013 elections in Anambra and Osun states as well as the 2014 elections in Ekiti State.