PDP demands for the removal of INEC new Boss

We will continue to demand for the removal of the Acting Chairman (INEC) Says PDP.

 

  The party said it is privy to the fact that “Mrs. Zakari who has a
strong relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and a
very prominent APC Northwest governor is collaborating with the
ruling party to post Resident Electoral Commissioners of its
choice to Kogi and Bayelsa ahead of the forthcoming
governorship elections in those states.”
Amina Bala Zakari, acting INEC chairman,


  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says they will continue to
demand  for the removal of the Acting Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Amina Zakari , after having their 403rd National Working Committee (NWC)
meeting.

The PDP also alerted of moves to use the period of Mrs. Zakari’s
stay as head of the commission to tinker with electoral personnel
and materials for the two states in favour of the APC.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a
statement on Saturday said “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs.
Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach
himself from the operation of the electoral body thereby
completely eroding the independence of the commission.

  The party pointed out that the issue at stake is not that of Mrs.
Zakari’s competence or performance in office but the fact of
nepotism and her closeness to the President and some key APC
leaders, which calls into question the independence of the
electoral body under her.
“We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has
been stripped of its independence and can no longer command
the confidence and respect of the citizens and all other critical
stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.

  We however find it astonishing, discouraging and disheartening
that the spokesperson of the President will address Nigerians and
lie to the entire citizenry that Mrs. Zakari never had any
relationship with the President or an APC Governor in the
Northwest. This is the height of deception coming from the
respected office of the President of our dear country.
“How much of Mrs. Zakari’s roles in the last general elections
does the spokesperson of the President, who has just been
appointed, know to warrant his brazen defense?

  Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the
President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as
the INEC Chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in
doing so he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the
position? Otherwise he can as well appoint his wife or brother as
the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.

Whilst the PDP might not be opposed to Mrs. Zakari becoming
one out of the numerous national electoral commissioners to be
so appointed, we completely reject her being an executive
chairman who takes major decisions in an independent electoral
commission while having a strong relationship with the President
and a prominent APC Northwest governor.
“Indeed, never in the history of Nigeria has there been an
executive chairman of the electoral body with such strong
relationship with the president of the country.

   The PDP said Insisting that Mrs. Zakari must be removed, they cannot sit back and watch too early in the day, its gradual destruction by partisan interest.
The PDP stressed that as long as the Acting Chairman remains
in office, it would not recognize the electoral body as the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but as the
National Electoral Commission (NEC).