29 April 2009
Lagos — It was drama galore yesterday in Abuja as the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, resigned her appointment, raising the uncertainty that had attended the governorship rerun in the state since Saturday.
But as the outcome of the rerun remained mired in confusion last night, Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro declared Adebayo wanted.
The Federal Government also rejected Adebayo's resignation, saying there was no evidence to show that she was impeded from carrying out her statutory assignment as a returning officer in the state.
Adebayo sent a three- paragraph letter of resignation to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, in which she expressed her desire not to "further participate in this process." She said her "conscience as a Christian cannot allow me to continue with the process."
The REC was said to have initially handed her resignation letter to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Maurice Iwu.
Iwu allegedly rejected the letter, saying he was not the one that appointed her.
The REC, said to have been indisposed two days ago by the INEC chairman, was said to have left her Abeokuta hometown for Abuja on a reported invitation of the State Security Service (SSS).
Adebayo's whereabouts had been a subject of speculations since she allegedly declined to announce the remaining results in four local government areas of the state last Saturday.
She was reported to have claimed that she was being pressured to announce the results against her conscience.
Her resignation appeared to have disturbed INEC and the Presidency.
Iwu was sighted at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa three times yesterday, once in the morning and twice in the afternoon.
Also seen at the place amidst the confusion were House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole and former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, who in a brief chat with State House Correspondents, said there was no cause for alarm.
Others sighted were Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Zamfara State Governor Mahmud Shinkafi, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Michael Aondoakaa and Information and Communication Minister Dora Akunyili, though Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Olusegun Adeniyi said their visit had nothing to do with the Ekiti rerun.
It was a cat and mouse game between State House Correspondents and the INEC chairman who visited Aso Rock ostensibly in relation to the rerun.
Iwu's third visit was around 4pm and it was in company with his Chief Press Secretary Andy Ezeani.
The drama actually started when newsmen tried to corner both Akunyili and Ezeani to comment on the situation in Ekiti.
Both kept sealed lips and practically forced their way through the media men who had laid siege for them.
In the process, some media men fell over themselves but in the end mum was the word from the duo.
Apparently done with his visit around 5 pm and sighting the journalists, Iwu rushed back inside.
His official car had to be driven in to ferry him out of the reach of the media hounds.
The electronic media then took to their heels to catch a glimpse of Iwu leaving the villa through the admin gate, in the process causing a stir amongst staff and security men at the place.
Addressing a joint news conference later with Akunyili and Okiro, the INEC chairman said Adebayo remains Ekiti REC.
"Till the election finishes in Oye-Ekiti, she still has a duty to perform. She still has to send her reports to us. We are hopeful that she will continue the process that she started," he said.
Iwu spoke about the duties and powers of a REC, as contained in the relevant statutes, which he said confers on Adebayo the sole responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of results in a governorship election.
He said: "RECs are appointed according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and their duties were further explained in the 2006 Electoral Act.
"Section 7 of the Act sub section 1 says there shall be established in each state of the Federation and FCT an office of the Commission which shall perform such functions as may be assigned to it by the Commission.
"Sub section 2 says a person appointed to the office of REC shall be answerable to the commission and hold the office for a period of five years.
"The third section, which is very important, says the REC appointed under the 1999 Constitution may only be removed by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, acting on an address supported by two-third majority of the Senate, praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office, whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause or misconduct.
"Then for this particular election, Section 28 of the Act says the REC shall be the returning officer at the governorship election. The REC, during the process of the collation of the results, will be the person who will receive the result and determine which results to accept or reject.
"The REC is not under the direction of any authority and is not controlled by the Chairman of INEC. The REC is totally answerable to all elections that are conducted in the state," he said.
Okiro ordered Adebayo to report to the nearest police station or INEC within the next 24 hours.
"She needs to throw more light on the issues raised, especially as there was no report to INEC on any difficulties encountered during the performance of her duties.
"The allegations contained in this letter are very serious and need to be thoroughly investigated so that we can get to the root of the matter," he said.
Information and Communication minister said the letter claiming that Adebayo had resigned her appointment in protest over the rerun election was addressed to President Yar'Adua.
"All the reasons stated in the resignation letter, which was purportedly written by Mrs. Adebayo and which expressed her reservations about the process, are within her powers as REC to address.
"The purported letter of resignation is suspect and there is need for the weighty allegations contained in the letter to be properly investigated," she said.
Akunyili said: "the letter was intended to undermine and discredit the government especially in its effort to build a credible democratic system for the country."
She noted that Adebayo had remained incommunicado since she reportedly took ill last Sunday, a situation which led to the election scheduled for Oye Local Government on Monday April 27, to be further postponed.
Meanwhile, INEC yesterday introduced a new dimension to the rerun saga, saying all the results but one in the 10 local government areas affected by the rerun had been released.
A statement signed by newly-appointed Deputy Secretary, Publicity of the commission, Mr. Steve Osemeke, claimed that only Oye-Ekiti, where the rerun is yet to take place is outstanding.
"Contrary to the stories being peddled that no result had been announced in Ekiti State supplementary governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission hereby affirms that results were announced at the nine Local Government area collation centres in the presence of party agents, politicians and members of the public," Osemeke said.
"For the avoidance of doubt, the only outstanding result is in some wards in Oye Local Government Area.
"As was clearly stated by the INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, INEC cannot announce the overall supplementary election result in Ekiti State until the conduct of Oye Local Government election," he added.
Osemeke urged political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint as the date for the conduct of the outstanding election in Oye would soon be announced.
But only results from five local governments are known to have been released so far by INEC.
Former governor of the state and PDP candidate, Chief Segun Oni and Action Congress (AC) candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, were the major contestants in the poll.
Areas where results were released are Gbonyin, Ekiti South-west, Ise-Orun, Ijero and Irepodun local governments. PDP polled a total of 15,420 votes as against AC's 15,026 but this is exclusive of the over 11,000 votes which AC had to its advantage from the last April 14, 2007 election.
Results from four local governments are yet to be released while election is yet to hold in two wards of Oye-Ekiti, which boasts of 18,000 votes.
From Ike Abonyi, Juliana Taiwo, Senator Iroegbu and Chinwe Ochu in Abuja
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The REC has and should have an assistant and records of the votes should be availabe. If she had suddenly died, for instance, there should be seamless continuation of the process. so, her disapearance should not disturb the precess, IF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION IS WELL-ORGANIZED.
This is an indication that PDP want to rig the election and the Resident Electoral Commissioner refused to buy their rigging plan.No doubt PDP will end up by derailing the democracy.Let us rise up and protect the Ekiti election.AC IS THE WINNER OF THE ELECTION.