Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against repeating what he described as a “show of shame” that was witnessed in Kogi State governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Fayose warned that “INEC must be mindful of the consequences of perpetrating the same electoral abracabra in Bayelsa State during the Saturday’s December 5 governorship poll.”
The governor called on the judiciary to be bold enough to provide the necessary intervention on the Kogi stalemated 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 capture in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
A statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications , Lere Olayinka, yesterday 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, 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 APC to perpetrate constitutional fraud by imposing an illegal decision on INEC.
“INEC must tell Nigerians what it would have done if it was the candidate of any of the 42 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?”
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 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 that are supposed to talk have kept quiet, enjoying the macabre dance of INEC and President Buhari.”
This Day.
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