There will be no free and fair election with Amina Zakari as the head of the INEC Collation centre, PDP insists

Kola Ologbondiyan

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, PPCO, has insisted that there will be no free and fair election with Amina Zakari as the head of the Independents National Electoral Commission, INEC, Collation centre.

PPCO insisted that Zakari was President Muhammadu Buhari’s relation, despite the latter denying the claim.

A statement by PPCO’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan on Sunday stated that Buhari’s alleged insistence on Zakari as INEC’s head of collation was an “affront on the sensibility of Nigerians.”

The statement, which is entitled: “No Free and Fair Election With Amina Zakari In INEC”, claimed Buhari’s presidency was plotting to use Zakari to truncate 2019 election results.

The statement reads: “There is no way peace can be guaranteed without a free and fair election. Already, Nigerians across the board are livid with anger over the foisting of Mrs. Amina Zakari, President Buhari’s relation, to head the collation of Presidential election results.

“President Buhari’s insistence on having his relation in charge of collation of Presidential election results is completely provocative, a direct affront to the sensibilities of Nigerians and express invitation to crisis of epic proportion, which is capable of truncating the entire electoral process and derailing our hard-earned democracy.

“The world is aware that majority of Nigerians have rejected Mrs. Amina Zakari. Over 90 percent of the political parties in the election, as well as major political and socio-cultural groups across the country have also called for her resignation from INEC, yet President Buhari is insisting on her stay in the commission.

“Our party is aware of plots by the Buhari Presidency to use Amina Zakari, who has been mentioned as part of those involved in the rigging of the 2018 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, to plunge the 2019 general elections into controversies, truncate the flow of results and even render elections in some critical states inconclusive, to pave way for allocation of fictitious votes to President Buhari and the APC.

“We want the National Peace Committee and the entire world to know that as long as Amina Zakari is in INEC, a peaceful election is not guaranteed because she has the mandate to abuse the process and this will not be accepted by Nigerians.”