Amid
speculations that President Muhammadu Buhari may soon confirm Amina
Zakari as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, has reiterated a call for her
resignation.
Following
her June 30 appointment as acting chairman of the electoral body, Gov.
Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State had claimed that Zakari’s appointment was
unknown to the 1999 Constitution. The governor also alleged that she had
family ties with the President.
Zakari,
who was National Commissioner at INEC, replaced Prof. Attahiru Jega,
whose five-year tenure as the INEC chairman ended on June 30.
In an
email exchange with our correspondent, Ozekhome echoed the call for
Zakari to resign or be dismissed. According to him, her credibility as
acting INEC chairman should be called to question by law and based on
the allegations brought against her.
“The
Constitution only allows for a substantive chairman of INEC, never an
acting one. Whether or not Mrs. Zakari is PMB’s (Buhari’s) in-law, the
fact that her bona fides for the job, her credibility, impartiality and
independence in handling the job have been vigorously questioned are
sufficient reasons for her to resign honourably, or get sacked by PMB.
“What
helped Jega at the most critical of times was the general public
perception that he was not compromised. The doubts already raised about
Mrs. Zakari can never make her deliver credible, free, fair and
acceptable elections.
“She had
better saved the nation another round of unnecessary tension and
recriminations. We have already had too much of that, in tons. She will
be morally challenged and ethically unstable in effecting credible
deliverables,” the legal expert said.
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