With the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State fast-approaching, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state is demanding the redeployment of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Toyin Babalola.
In an open letter to the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and signed by the party's State Secretary, Oluseye Olujimi, the party said the REC had an alleged fraternity with leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, and therefore unfit for the role of umpire in the election.
The party specifically identified Babalola as a bonafide resident of Ondo State with her family permanently domiciled at No. 3 Majekodunmi Street, Ijoka Area of Akure town, in Akure South, saying she remains an established resident of Ondo State.
But responding, INEC, through the Chief Press Secretary to its chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, rejected the request, saying that posting and redeployment of RECs were not influenced by political parties or partisan individuals.
Oyekanmi argued that nobody has come up with any genuine, incontrovertible evidence of criminal or unethical conduct against Babalola.
It is curious that INEC always entangles itself in unnecessary controversies. First, why would it appoint a resident of Ondo State as REC in the state?
Recall that before the Edo State governorship election last month, the same PDP in the state had raised concerns that the state REC, Anugbum Onuoha, was a cousin to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
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But the commission refused to redeploy him and what happened during the collation of the results tainted the credibility of the election and vindicated the PDP.
An election and all the processes leading to it should be seen to be fair and transparent but INEC has established a reputation of embarking on actions that erode the confidence of critical stakeholders ahead of every election and thus discredits its own elections before they are held.
Officials saddled with the responsibility of managing any election should not only be neutral but must be seen to be neutral by all the critical stakeholders.
It is imperative that the commission should address concerns and complaints of critical stakeholders before it loses whatever remains of its credibility.
