The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that Mrs. Amina Zakari should not be allowed to participate in the conduct of the general elections. The party alleged that Mrs. Zakari is coordinating the recruitment of “compromised lecturers and other partisan individuals” to serve as returning officers during the general elections. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said at a press conference yesterday that since President Muhammadu Buhari confessed that Mrs. Amina Zakari is his relation by marriage, she should be exempted from any electoral function in order to avert a conflict of interest bordering on partisanship.
“We call on the United Nations, the European Union and all democratic institutions across the world to rise and appeal to the INEC Chairman to, in the interest of peace, exempt Amina Zakari from the exercise, as any election conducted with her participation in INEC cannot be anything credible,” Ologbondiyan stated.
He further demanded transparency in the appointment of electoral officers that will conduct the elections at various levels Ologbondiyan alleged that Buhari Media Group (BMG) and other All Progressives Congress (APC) support groups were fronting as N-Power beneficiaries to serve as electoral officers but said they should not be allowed to participate as electoral officers in any capacity and at any level in the general elections.
“Our party also insists that no university Vice Chancellor or lecturer, who, at any point in time has manifested or expressed any form of partisanship, should be allowed to participate in the electoral process. “The PDP further insists that names of all electoral officers at all levels must be made public ahead of the elections, for all stakeholders to assess the neutrality of such officers in their respective constituencies,” he demanded. He stated that PDP is not in conflict with INEC but noted that as a political party and critical stakeholder in the 2019 elections, it has the responsibility to point out pitfalls that could endanger the electoral process and lead to a slide into Anarchy
