The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization, PPCO, has said in a statement that President Muhammadu Buhari’s admittance of an inter-marriage relationship with Amina Zakari, a national commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), undermines the process of the forthcoming elections.
The PDP said that Buhari, by accepting links with the INEC commissioner, has vindicated its claims that Zakari’s involvement would undervalues the sanctity of the collation process of the 2019 Presidential election results.
The campaign council also tasked President Buhari to respond to criticisms about two years ago by Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed that he (President Buhari) pushed for the appointment of Amina Zakari to represent his interest at the commission.
In a statement signed by PPCO’s Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP urged the President to speak more on his relationship with the former Director of Operation at INEC.
The statement read in part:
“It is now clear that in addition to the relationship by affinity, President Buhari also has a consanguinity relationship with Amina Zakari and has not denied that he started his early childhood in Amina Zakari’s father’s house.”
“President Buhari’s admittance has effectively established that the PDP has not been crying wolf on the impropriety of involving Mrs. Amina Zakari in the collation of Presidential election results, let alone being appointed to head the final determination of the Presidential election.”
“It is totally unethical and immoral for an umpire to insist on officiating a contest even when her impartiality is called to question. Even in the judiciary, judges recuse themselves in cases involving parties they have affinity with. Mrs. Amina Zakari must therefore, recuse herself, if the 2019 presidential election must be credible.”
The party further challenged the first citizen to relieve Amina of her duty at INEC, if he is sure of winning the polls without her, saying “if indeed, President Buhari is a man of integrity and is not pushing an ulterior motive with Amina Zakari, why is he insisting that she must be in INEC and that she must be at the collation of Presidential result?
“Furthermore, if President Buhari believes he is popular among Nigerians and can win in a free and fair contest, why is he fixated at manipulating the electoral process, instead of allowing INEC to have a free hand to conduct this election?”
Mrs Zakari, denied being a relative of the president while speaking to the BBC earlier.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is my president as everybody else’s president. He’s not my cousin; he’s not my uncle as is being claimed. That’s all I can say,” Zakari stated.
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