By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA:
The Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed as untrue, allegations by the
ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, that the electoral umpire was
working in cahoots with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to
short-change it in the general elections.
Chief Press Secretary
to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, told Vanguard, Wednesday
night, that the commission is not a political party, explaining that the
fate of APC in Zamfara and Rivers states were as a result of judicial
pronouncements.
“It is not true that the Independent National
Electoral Commission is working hand in gloves with any political party
to do the wrong things.
The issue of Zamfara and Rivers are well
known. “In the case of Zamfara, the Commission had written to the APC
leadership to notify it that, due to its inability to conduct its
primaries in Zamfara State within the stipulated time as required by
law, the party cannot field candidates for the governorship election.
Thereafter, two cases were instituted in court resulting in two rulings
which were delivered the same day.
The Commission then adopted
one of the rulings. “In the case of Rivers, it was the Supreme Court
that took a final decision on the fate of APC. Therefore, both cases
were purely judicial and INEC, being a law abiding institution, will
always obey court orders/judgment.
“The Commission is not a
political party and does not have a candidate for the forthcoming
general elections. Our duty is to provide a level-playing field for all
registered political parties and ensure that elections are conducted in a
free, fair and transparent manner,” Oyekanmi stated.
APC had
accused two Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of INEC of
campaigning side by side with the PDP in the South-south, saying the
Commission is grossly unfair to her.
National Chairman of the
APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole stated this, Wednesday, in Abuja while
speaking with journalists. According to him, “If there is anything, this
INEC has been very, very unfair to APC.
But we just discovered
that we have a moral responsibility, the fact that we are a governing
party gives us a certain level of oath that we cannot afford to want to
be seen to rubbish the situation because, if we rubbish everything, it
will then be seen as we do not want to have the elections.
“As
we speak, there are two RECs that are virtually campaigning side by side
with PDP. INEC, without giving us any concrete explanation or giving
concrete evidence went ahead to say that we cannot conduct election in
Zamfara, we cannot field candidates in Zamfara state, thereby seeking to
award without any contest, nullify democracy in Zamfara state. Is that
the way your friends behave if they were our friends? “INEC is working
more for PDP based on evidence I can show.
How can they explain
that a court of competent jurisdiction gave orders in Zamfara to say
this candidates are eligible to contest election and another High Court
in Abuja gave the verdict saying APC did not conclude its primaries but
it did not give order to INEC.
“There is no order issued by the
Abuja high court given to INEC. But there is a concrete existing order
by a Zamfara high court which upheld the primaries that were conducted
in Zamfara. The INEC chairman had said that if there were two
judgements, they will adopt the last judgement.
The Abuja
judgement came first, the Zamfara judgement came last even though it was
the same day. “As much as INEC said they will abide by the last court
order, when it came to Zamfara, they changed the goal post.
We
have been at the receiving end of abuse. There is a candidate in Kano
whose nomination we forwarded to INEC, INEC changed the nomination and
as we speak, we are in court and we showed our evidence”, he alleged.
Vanguard
recalls that INEC had said where there are two conflicting orders from
courts of coordinate jurisdiction, that it would maintain the status
quo. On his part, INEC’s Director of Publicity and Voter Education,
Oluwole Osaze-Uzi challenged the APC to furnish the Commission with
evidences of bias against the RECs.
He said the commission was
preparing for Saturday’s elections and would not allow itself to be
distracted. “We will not join issues with anyone but we have been
accused by the PDP too.
However, we do not want to be distracted because we are focused on preparations for the elections. If they have hard evidences, they can write to the Commission and attach the evidences”, he said
Source:- Vanguardngr
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