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Sunday, August 9, 2015

Fayose asks Buhari to sack INEC Chair, Zakari

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called for
the removal of Mrs. Amina Zakari as Acting
Chairperson of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, saying the appointment is unknown to
the 1999 Constitution.
The governor, who said President Mohammadu
Buhari’s appointment of his “in-law (Zakari)” posed
danger to democracy, added that the Constitution (as
amended), which established INEC and other Federal
Executive Bodies, did not make any provision for the
appointment of acting chairman.
He called on all lovers of democracy in the country to
rise in defence of the impartiality of INEC, which he
described as the only factor that could sustain
democracy.
Fayose, in a statement issued on Sunday by his
Special Assistant on Public Communications and New
Media, Lere Olayinka, said the most honourable thing
for President Buhari to do was to rescind the
unlawful appointment of Mrs. Zakari as INEC Acting
Chairperson.
According to him, since Mrs. Zakari’s tenure as INEC
National Electoral Commissioner had expired, she
cannot continue to preside legally on INEC affairs,
except if duly appointed as substantive chairman of
the commission as provided in Section 154 (1) and (3)
of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The statement said, “One of the major legacies
bequeathed to Nigeria by the immediate past
Peoples Democratic Party government was free, fair
and credible electoral process and President Buhari,
who is a beneficiary of this legacy, must sustain this
legacy by ensuring that the impartiality of the
electoral umpire is unblemished by suspicions of
partisanship and illegal appointments.”
“Two weeks ago, respected former lawmaker and
former top civil servant, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai,
revealed that he knew Mrs. Zakari since childhood,
and that her late father, the former Emir of Kazaure,
was married to President Buhari’s elder sister.
“Alhaji Yakassai went on to reveal that President
Buhari lived with, and spent a significant part of his
early years in the home of Amina Zakari’s father.
“This is enough establishment of conviviality between
Mrs. Zakari and President Buhari, whose party, the
All Progressives Congress (APC), will be standing
elections with other political parties this year and this
will no doubt cast credibility aspersion on any
election conducted by INEC headed by Mrs. Zakari.”
Fayose argued that Section 153 of the 1999
Constitution (as amended), which established INEC
and other Federal Executive Bodies did not make any
provision for the appointment of Acting Chairman.
Declaring the appointment as illegal, he stated that,
“Section 154 (3) provided that the President shall
consult the Council of State in exercising his powers
to appoint a person as the chairman of INEC and
there is no record of such consultation before the
appointment of Mrs. Zakari as INEC Acting
Chairperson.
“The only requisite condition for Mrs. Zakari to be
acting as the chairman of INEC is that she must be a
National Electoral Commissioner and her tenure as
National Electoral Commissioner ended on July 21,
2015.
“As of today, there are four National Electoral
Commissioners in INEC instead of 12. They are
Abdukadir Sulaimanu Oniyangi, Mohammad Ahmad
Wali, Chris Iyimoga and Lawrence Nwuruku. If anyone
should act as INEC chairman, it should be any of the
remaining four National Electoral Commissioner, not
someone whose tenure has expired.
“The danger in this is also that any action taken by
INEC with Mrs. Zakari as its head will amount to
illegality and it is hoped that President Buhari will
avoid plunging Nigeria into an avoidable legal
quagmire by rescinding immediately, the illegal
appointment of Mrs. Zakari as INEC Acting
Chairperson, a position that is not known to the
Constitution of Nigeria.”

Oshomo_Smart

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