INEC acting chairman is a “daughter” to Buhari- Chief Olisa Metuh

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed not to accept any elections conducted by the acting chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Amina Zakari.

The national publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, made this declaration when he paid a courtesy visit to National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI), in Abuja, on Thursday.

He also alerted the international community to what he said was tendency by President Muhammdu Buhari and the All Progressives Party (APC) for draconian and authoritarian actions.

Metuh’s visit to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) may have been timed to draw attention to government’s attitude as Buhari visits the United States (US) next week.

According to the party spokesman, the INEC acting chairman is a “daughter” to Buhari and, as such, would not be fair in the discharge of her responsibility as the nation’s electoral umpire.

“We have INEC and the idea is that people heading it should be above board, but the present ruling party has appointed the ‘daughter’ of the president to head the position. There is nowhere in the world where such has happened, a person who has a relationship with the president.

“I am drawing the attention of the IRI to the situation. Buhari has appointed his ‘daughter’ as INEC chairman. We believe there will not be fairness.

“It will be very difficult to accept any result of the election conducted by Amina Zakari. It will be difficult for PDP to accept result of election if we lose under Zakari,” he said.

Metuh alleged that Buhari had sidelined governors elected under the opposition party, in contrast to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership style of carrying everybody along.

He drew the attention of the international community to what, according to him, was the fact that Buhari was working hard to silence the opposition by harassing, muscling and intimidating them.

Metuh cited the instance of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who, he said, was elected by his colleagues at the National Assembly, but who the presidency was using the security apparatus to intimidate.

“I want to alert the international community to these issues and if they are not handled very well, they may truncate our democracy. We have witnessed a remarkable change in the past few days.

“We encourage freedom and in just two months in power, we have witnessed organised witch-hunt by the leadership of APC in trying to muscle our people,” he said.

In his response, NDI Resident Country Director, Jasper Veen, admonished that anywhere in the world, the most important factor in good governance was the political party itself, noting that the way Nigeria political parties recruited people for key position was a reflection of the political system.

Veen stressed the need for internal democracy, noting that to be in the opposition was not easy.

Also speaking, the Resident Programme Officer of IRI, Sentell Barnes, stressed the strong commitment between US government and Nigeria.