Presidency fires back at PDP over appointment of new INEC Chairman

dimeji akinloye

July 2, 2015 2:23 AM

He dismissed the insinuation that the President overruled Professor Attahiru Jega in appointing Zakari as the acting INEC chairman.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday, July 1, in Abuja said due process was followed in the appointment of Amina Zakari as acting chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Adesina was reacting to a statement credited PDP’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh regarding the appointment of Zakari by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He dismissed the insinuation that the President overruled Professor Attahiru Jega in appointing Zakari as the acting INEC chairman.

The statement reads: "We have noted with regret, the latest tirade against President Muhammadu Buhari issued today by the PDP's Spokesman, Mr Olisa Metuh.

"Other than boring reporters at his press conference with a rehash of baseless allegations of inaction against the President, Mr Metuh clearly had nothing new to say apart from his charge of nepotism and partisanship in the appointment of the Acting INEC Chairman, which also lacks any factual foundation.

"President Buhari certainly did not 'overrule' Prof. Attahiru Jega in appointing Mrs Amina Zakari as the Acting INEC Chairman, as Mr Metuh alleged.

"Prof. Jega's purported handing over to another Commissioner cannot be construed as an appointment because only the President has the constitutional authority, which he exercised to appoint Mrs Zakari as acting Chairman of INEC.

"Contrary to Metuh's allegations, President Buhari's appointment of Zakari as Acting INEC Chariman was based entirely on merit, her vast experience in the internal operations of INEC and the President's commitment to affirmative action in support of gender equality, because, apart from being fully qualified for the position, Mrs Zakari was the only woman among the six Commissioners considered.’’

Adesina, therefore, maintained that due process was certainly followed in Zakari's appointment.

According to him, Metuh's spurious claims of her appointment having been influenced by "personal relationship with the Presidency" and a governor in the North-West "to pave the way for the APC" at election tribunals should be disregarded by the public.

He said the allegations are nothing "but falsehoods contrived by Metuh to unjustly denigrate a President popularly elected by Nigerians to undo the damage done to the nation by years of PDP rule.

"His claim that the PDP has rejected Mrs Zakari's appointment is also laughable after he had admitted that the right and power of the President to make such appointments cannot be questioned.’’

dimeji akinloye