INEC should detach itself from APC – Governor says

chika ebuzor

December 21, 2016 7:24 PM

Fayose also called on the INEC boss to rid the organisation of any form of partisanship.

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose

The Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to detach itself from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Fayose said this while countering the INEC boss, Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s comments on the reason for renewed electoral violence in Nigeria.

The Governor said Yakubu should stop lamenting and return the electoral body to the way it was before he assumed office.

According to Daily Post, he said “Violence returned to our electoral process because of INEC partisanship and manipulation of the electoral process in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

Fayose, in a statement signed by his adviser on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said “There were elections in Nigeria between 2011 and 2015, and those elections were credible, such that Nigerians were sure that popular candidates and parties would emerge victorious because votes were allowed to count. Then, violence was no longer part of our electoral process. But sadly, this present INEC has destroyed all those gains and returned Nigeria to the era of ballot box snatching.”

Adding that “By returning to the old system of accreditation and voting at the same time, and destroying the credibility of our electoral process, such that unpopular candidates are now having edge over and above those acceptable to the people, INEC by itself caused the electoral violence witnessed in the last 12 months.

“Even judges that will sit on election matters are now pre-arranged and picked even before the election, such that after using INEC and security agencies to pervert the will of the people, tribunals are used to authenticate the electoral fraud.

“The reality therefore is that only INEC can put an end to electoral violence and the only way to do it is for the commission to be neutral.”

He also described a shameful, the current practice where voters now wait at the polling booths to protect their votes because of lack of trust.

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Fayose also warned the INEC boss to rid the organisation of any form of partisanship, adding that Buhari would not have become President if Prof. Attahiru Jega handled the electoral body badly.

The Ekiti state Governor had earlier accused President Muhammadu Buhariof tampering with the affairs of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

chika ebuzor