The Nigerian electoral body (INEC) seems to be taking Nigerians for granted. INEC today issued a statement denying allegations of connivance with the ruling party. This is an electoral body that has not conducted a single successful election since the coming of this administration. It has always been, cancellation, inconclusive or suspended. The word inconclusive now seems to be synonymous with INEC.
Having taking a few bashing from civil society organisations lately over it's perceived sympathy and connivance with the ruling party, the APC, the electoral body today tried to convince the Nigerian public to believe they are not being influenced by president Buhari. But this seems to have done very little to overturn the already known fact even among the political parties.
In the statement, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it is not under the direct supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari or “any other person or authority”. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, INEC director of publicity, said this in response to the allegations that the commission was compromising its independence.
Recently, some civil society organisations (CSOs) and chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused INEC of compromising its independence. But Osaze-Uzzi said most of the allegations levelled against the commission were as a result of some of its decisions not favouring the accusers.
“What we have always been doing is trying to assert our independence; trying to work in accordance with the laws. Sometimes this favours one set of people, sometimes it doesn’t,” he said. “From our experience, when it doesn’t favour them, they make some forms of allegations to undermine the commission, its integrity, its independence and try to bring it down in the eyes of the public.
“Ironically, some of the same people are accusing us of compromising our independence and calling on the president to call us to order. “We are not under the direction or supervision of the president or any other person or authority, so, why should the same set of people be calling on the president to call us to order?”
He said the same set of people accusing INEC of compromising its independence were the ones who want the electoral body to be compromised. “They are the ones asking the national assembly and everybody to call us to order. If you read the constitution very well, we are not under the control of any body or institution,” he said.
Osaze-Uzzi said INEC was maintaining its independence in accordance with the law of the land. “We are trying to apply the laws and principles consistently,” he said. On the call for the resignation of INEC chairman over the alleged of complicity in the production of fake election result sheets in Ondo state, Osaze-Uzzi described it as “an absurdity’’.
He said nobody, not even the most of staff, in the commission knew the security features of the result sheets, adding the entire allegation were ridiculous. “When you see people printing fake currency do you call on the central bank governor to resign?” he asked.
“When you see people printing fake WAEC result sheets, do you hear people calling on the registrar to resign or people working in WAEC to resign that they are involved?”
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