The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has refuted allegations by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, accusing it of selective conduct of elections to fill vacancies arising from the defection of serving members of the National and State Assembly from one political party to another.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, in a statement on Friday described the allegations as misplaced and misleading.
Oyekanmi stated that no specific instances of the alleged selective action were presented by Fubara when he accused the Commission of deliberate failure to fill the vacancies resulting from the protracted crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly where two factions are jostling for control.
He recalled that in the midst of the crisis, three or so lawmakers have declared the seats of 27 members vacant and vice versa.
“While the Commission is aware of the situation in the Rivers State House of Assembly, the matter is pending in court and, therefore, subjudice.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has been joined in several suits filed by litigants at various courts, including the Supreme Court,” he said.
According to Oyekanmi, “under the circumstances, the Commission must await the final judicial pronouncement on the matter before it embarks on a puerile exercise that may eventually amount to a nullity and a waste of public funds.”
The commission urged people occupying high public offices to be circumspect in their public statements before they mislead the public and cast aspersion on public institutions, particularly where they are aware of the pendency of cases in court.
Recall that Fubara had expressed doubts over the neutrality of INEC under the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu, saying the electoral body failed to enforce constitutional provisions on political defections.
According to him, the commission was selectively enforcing the constitutional requirement that lawmakers who defect from the party on whose platform they were elected should lose their seats.
The governor spoke in Lagos at the sixth annual Freedom Online lecture, tagged “Nigeria’s Socio-Political Challenges: Whose Fault, the Leaders or the Led?”
“The Independent National Electoral Commission has failed to uphold the law concerning political defections. According to the constitution, lawmakers who defect from the party on whose platform they were elected should lose their seats.
“However, INEC has been selective in enforcing this rule, raising questions about its neutrality,” he said.
