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Friday, 17 July 2015

PDP vows to reject any election conducted by INEC chair Zakari, if it loses



The opposition Peoples Democratic Party has vowed to reject the result of any election it loses if conducted by the acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Amina Zakari.
The threat was made by the spokesperson of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, on Thursday when he paid a courtesy call to the offices of National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute in Abuja.
Mr. Metuh based his party’s decision on the fact the Ms. Zakari is like a daughter to President Muhammadu Buhari and would therefore, not be fair in the discharge of her responsibilities as INEC Chairman.
“We have INEC and the idea is that people heading it should be above board, but the present ruling party has appointed the ‘daughter’ of the President to head the position,” Mr. Metuh said. “There is no where in the world where such has happened, a person who has a relationship with the President. I am drawing the attention of the IRI that Buhari has appointed his ‘daughter’ as INEC Chairman, we believe there will not be fairness.”
“It will be very difficult to accept any result of the election conducted by Amina Zakari. It will be difficult for PDP to accept result of election if we lose under Zakari.”
Mr. Metuh called on the two international bodies to call Mr. Buhari to order over what he described as symptoms of “draconian and authoritarian”.
Both NDI and IRI are non-governmental organisations with strong ties to the United States of America, USA.
President Buhari is billed to travel to the US on Sunday where he would hold talks with President Barack Obama, his Deputy, Joe Biden and other top government and non-governmental individuals and organisations.
Mr. Metuh complained about the leadership style of Mr. Buhari and said he side-lined governors elected under opposition parties and does not consult them on issues.
Mr. Metuh said Mr. Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP always took along opposition governors whenever he travelled for official assignments.
The governors of Imo, Nasarawa, Edo, Borno and Oyo, all members of the governing APC, would accompany Mr. Buhari.
Mr. Metuh also complained to the two bodies that although the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, was elected by his colleagues at the National Assembly, he said the presidency is using security apparatus to intimidate him.
“I want to alert the international community on these issues and if they are not handled very well may truncate our democracy,” Mr. Metuh said. “We have witnessed a remarkable change in the past few days.
“We encourage freedom and in just two months in power, we have witnessed organised witch hunt by the leadership of the APC in trying to muscle our people.”
Responding, NDI Resident Country Director, Jasper Veen, noted that anywhere in the world, the most important area to tackle was the political party itself.
He further noted that the way Nigerian political parties recruit people for key positions was a reflection of the political system.
He urged for internal democracy in all the parties, even as he noted that being in opposition is always not easy.
On his part, the resident program officer of IRI, Sentell Barnes, promised to look at the issues raised by Mr. Metuh and share it with relevant bodies.
He said there was strong commitment between the US government and Nigeria, insisting that United States will ensure that there Nigeria’s democracy develops at a faster rate.

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