INEC: It is wrong to fault Zakari’s appointment, SERAP

The Social Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP) has described the criticisms that has trailed the appointment of Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari as acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by President Muhammadu Buhari as inappropriate.

The Executive Chairman of the group, Mr. Adetokumbo Mumuni who made this position known in a chart with Hallmark stressed that what should matter to Nigerians is whether the woman can do the job well, as opposed to which geopolitical zone she comes from or whether or not she is related to the president. He insisted that there was no law which specifies where an INEC chairman should come from, hence no one, according to him can fault her appointment on the basis of the constitution.

“There is no law that says INEC chairman must come from a particular zone. The first question we should be asking ourselves and those who want to criticize the appointment is what is the level of competence of this lady; what is the level of his integrity? So if you cannot fault her on that basis, you would be basing your argument on sentiment,” he said.

The SERAP boss however stressed that Zakari has not been confirmed as a substantive chairman of the electoral body while calling on Nigerians to help the system by putting competence above all else when it comes to the issue of appointments.

“In any case, she is still functioning in acting capacity. The woman has not been confirmed as the substantive chairman of INEC.

“When we want to help the system, we should be talking about competence. Why is it that we don’t question the identity, the ethnic origin or the zone of a pilot when we want to board a plane? Why is that when an operation is to be carried out, we don’t bother about the ethnic origin of the doctor?” he queried.

“My opinion is that, if you cannot fault that appointment on the basis of incompetence, integrity and honestly, we should not bother at all about her zone,” he concluded.

His position was, nonetheless, contradicted by another group, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice which noted that the position of acting chairman of INEC was not provided for in the country’s constitution.

CHRSJ’s Executive President, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, who stated this in an interview with our correspondent pointed out that president Buhari had formed a habit of sidestepping the constitution of the country which, according to him portends danger for the country’s democracy.

“First and foremost, in the electoral act of 2004, there is no provision for the post of ‘Acting INEC Chairman.’ If the government wants to take decisions, it must do so in accordance with the rule of law because Nigeria is not a banana republic, it is a country of law,” he said

“Our apex law, the 1999 constitution as amended in 2007 did not give provision for that. There is no way anyone who doesn’t know the Bible or Qu’ran will call himself a pastor or an Imam. So for the president to refuse to follow due process and rule of law, especially the electoral act in appointing Mrs. Zakari means that he shouldn’t call himself a president.”

Sulaiman suggested that the president should have consulted widely and asked qualified persons to indicate interest by submitting application letters after which he would choose the most qualified if indeed he was interested in picking candidates based on competence.

“He should have asked qualified individuals, be it professors, to submit their credentials. And when this is done, he would call a meeting of all the political parties to have a say in who becomes INEC chairman, it is not for him to appoint the chairman arbitrarily, there is no way the person will not, either directly or indirectly, try to appease him.

“The government must follow the rule of law, absolutely. We do not support Zakari, she is from the same zone as Buhari, there is no way she will not work to satisfy Buhari. He has to remove her from that post.”

It would be recalled that Zakari’s appointment had been trailed by controversies following the revelation by prominent Northern politician, Tanko Yakassai that she was related to President Buhari, an accusation the acting INEC boss has denied.

Some had also based their disapproval of her appointment on the fact that the office of acting INEC chairman was not provided for in the constitution.