The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, has declared that the Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Ayoke Adebayo, “must make herself available to the Nigeria Police within 24 hours.”
He said, “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,’’
The Electoral Commissioner submitted her resignation letter and in it it is alleged that she stated that she was under pressure to announce results that were against her conscience. She said to have expressed her desire not to “further participate in this process.” and “my conscience as a Christian cannot allow me to continue with the process.”
The Federal Government rejected her resignation, saying there was no evidence to show that she was impeded from performing her statutory assignment as a returning officer for Ekiti state.
The Electoral Commissioner was said to have handed her resignation letter to Maurice Iwu, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who allegedly rejected the letter, saying he was did not appoint her.
Later at a news conference later, the INEC chairman said she remains the Ekiti Electoral Commissioner and “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,”
“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,’’
The minister for Information said “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,’’
“The letter was intended to undermine and discredit the government especially in its effort to build a credible democratic system for the country.”
"The views and opinions expressed in these comment(s) or article(s) do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of NGEX, its partners or its affiliates."
Babatope Ihuoma Delta, Nigeria April 29, 2009
With the conflicts surrounding this ekiti re-run election, it can be clearly seen that there is alot of pressure on Mrs Adebayo either to announce a result not collated at the designated centres or for her to resign...
"Coming In From The Cold" California, U.S.A. April 29, 2009
What do you want her for? This old lady doesn't want to be part of your unprogressive unrighteous ways of doing things. What if she died, won't you continue and declare your fake results anyway?
Na by force? Just leave the poor lady alone. What do you want her for and what crime did she commit? "Make we hear better, o jare."
You are all so corrupt you can't even hold a fair election. Where are the military coup plotters now? Please take over the nation again from these ignoramuses.
Democracy is a demonstration of craziness in the hands of these fools called leaders. They will never learn. If this is what we get after Abacha's terror, these uncivilized civilians will never learn any lessons.
What do you have to put some people through, for them to learn to behave and do the right things? As soon as the dust clears, they go back to their old ways and even worse. This one na "wuruwuru" government - vagabonds in power.
