Sack INEC chairman, Amina Zakari, now, Fayose urges Buhari 

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has called for the removal of Mrs. Amina Zakari as Acting Chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying the appointment is unknown to the 1999 Constitution.

The governor, who said President Mohammadu Buhari’s appointment of his “in-law (Zakari)” posed danger to democracy, added that the Constitution (as amended), which established INEC and other Federal Executive Bodies, did not make any provision for the appointment of acting chairman.

He called on all lovers of democracy in the country to rise in defence of the impartiality of INEC, which he described as the only factor that could sustain democracy.

Fayose, in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the most honourable thing for President Buhari to do was to rescind the unlawful appointment of Mrs. Zakari as INEC Acting Chairperson.

According to him, since Mrs. Zakari’s tenure as INEC National Electoral Commissioner had expired, she cannot continue to preside legally on INEC affairs, except if duly appointed as substantive chairman of the commission as provided in Section 154 (1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The statement said, “One of the major legacies bequeathed to Nigeria by the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party government was free, fair and credible electoral process and President Buhari, who is a beneficiary of this legacy, must sustain this legacy by ensuring that the impartiality of the electoral umpire is unblemished by suspicions of partisanship and illegal appointments.

“Two weeks ago, respected former lawmaker and former top civil servant, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, revealed that he knew Mrs. Zakari since childhood, and that her late father, the former Emir of Kazaure, was married to President Buhari’s elder sister.