Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has told the Independent<\/p>\n
National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmood
\nYakubu to first purge the electoral commission under him of
\npartisanship and election manipulations before seeking the
\nestablishment of Electoral Offences Tribunal, saying; \u201cINEC under the
\npresent dispensation is the number one electoral offender and that
\nelectoral reform without INEC neutrality is a mirage.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said any Electoral Offences Tribunal established under this present
\ndispensation will only be used against opposition parties as the
\nDepartment of States Services, Police, Armed forces and other agencies
\nof the federal government were used during the Bayelsa and Rivers
\nStates elections.<\/p>\n
Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere
\nOlayinka quoted the governor as saying that; \u201cEven though
\nestablishment of Electoral Offences Tribunal is not entirely a bad
\nidea, but INEC as presently constituted does not encourage free, fair
\nand violence free election and it should worry Prof Yakubu that INEC
\nas at today, is being referred to as Inconclusive National Electoral
\nCommission because of the commission\u2019s partisanship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor, who described electoral violence as a product of
\nelectoral injustice, said even President Buhari himself admitted his
\nfailure to conduct any free, fair and credible election since he
\nassumed office.<\/p>\n
He said; \u201cDuring the Rivers State rerun elections that INEC has been
\nunable to conclude, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was missing on
\nresult sheets of over 230 polling units and up till now, all what INEC
\nhas been able to tell Nigerians was that the criminal omission of PDP
\nin the result sheets was due to printers error. Was that not enough to
\ncause violence?\u201d<\/p>\n
While blaming President Buhari for eroding INEC independence, Governor
\nFayose said; \u201cThe day President Buhari interfered with the internal
\nadministration of INEC by appointing Madam Amina Zakari, a National
\nCommissioner, as Acting Chairperson of the commission, a title and
\nposition unknown to the Constitution, INEC under the Buhari\u2019s APC
\ngovernment lost its independence and its credibility was eroded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality that INEC itself must therefore face is that members of
\nPresident Buhari\u2019s party, APC have become so emboldened to unleash
\nviolence on Nigerians during elections because they know that the
\npresident won\u2019t lift a finger provided his party members are the ones
\nperpetrating evil.<\/p>\n
\u201cINEC must therefore seek to regain its lost independence and
\ncredibility before talking about punishing electoral offenders because
\nas it is now, INEC is the number one electoral offender and promoter
\nof electoral violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has told the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to first purge the electoral commission under him of partisanship and election…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n