Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the Kogi State election debacle as a show of shame by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the President Mohammadu Buhari-led administration, warning that, “INEC must be mindful of the consequences of perpetrating the same electoral abracadabra in Bayelsa State.”
The governor said; “If INEC could mess up its first assignment under President Buhari’s kinsman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Nigerians should get prepared for manipulated electoral processes.”
He called on the judiciary to be bold enough to provide the necessary intervention on the Kogi’s delayed election, saying instead of turning itself into the court, INEC ought to have approached the Supreme Court for proper interpretation on the relevant laws since the Kogi scenario was not captured in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, who spoke on behalf of the governor, in a release issued on Wednesday, said, “INEC has created total confusion in Kogi State with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy Governorship candidate, Hon James Faleke, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Idris Wada, governorship candidate of the People for Democratic Change (PDC), Hon. Emmanuel Daikwo and two others now in court, challenging the supplementary election scheduled for Saturday.
“APC on its part has presented Yahaya Bello as late Abubakar Audu’s replacement. But Faleke, who should be his running mate, has written to INEC to withdraw his name as Deputy Governorship candidate, and INEC has not told Nigerians how APC will field governorship candidate without a running mate.
“Or has INEC also waved the Electoral Act requirement for a governorship candidate to be nominated with a deputy just because it is the APC that is involved?”
The governor said President Buhari was setting Nigeria on the path of anarchy by using the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who is a member of the APC to perpetrate constitutional fraud by imposing an illegal decision on INEC.
He said; “INEC must tell Nigerians what it would have done if it was the candidate of any of the 41 political parties (apart from APC) that participated in the election that died while the election was ongoing. Would INEC have resorted to the illegal amendment of the Constitution as it did to protect the interest of the APC or simply go ahead and delete the dead candidate and announce the winner based on votes scored by the remaining candidates?”
Speaking further, Governor Fayose noted that, “PDP ruled for 16 years, Nigeria was not thrown into this kind of electoral mess and confusion. This to me is a real fraud and a clear indication that President Buhari will not lead this country to anywhere but confusion.
“I imagine if Dr Goodluck Jonathan had acted this way, will Nigeria be where it is now? Wouldn’t democracy have been scuttled?
“Painfully, many honourable people who are supposed to talk have kept quiet, seeming to be enjoying the macabre dance of INEC and President Buhari.”
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