Two Weeks After PDP Protest, INEC Redeploys Amina Zakari

Agency ReporterOctober 12, 2018

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Amina Zakari, head of electoral operations and logistics at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been redeployed to the department of health and welfare.

Mohammed Haruna, a national commissioner of INEC, announced this in a statement.

Haruna said heads of four other committees were affected in a reorganisation at the commission.

He listed those redeployed as Festus Okoye as head of information and voter education committee; Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, board of the electoral institute; Mohammad Mustafa Lecky, planning, monitoring and strategy; and Okechukwu lbeanu, electoral operations and logistics committee.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had expressed dissatisfaction with the position Zakari held, accusing her of working for President Muhammadu Buhari.

“While Prof. Mahmood Yakubu can no longer be trusted to conduct the 2019 general election, it is public knowledge that Mrs Amina Zakari, the INEC Director in charge of Operations and ICT, is a direct blood relation of Mr President and as such, we believe that she cannot be an impartial arbiter in an election involving her uncle,” Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the PDP, had said in a statement issued two weeks ago.

Ologbondiyan is yet to react to the latest changes at INEC.

Meanwhile, Haruna said no political party has forwarded the list of their candidates for the 2019 elections.

He insisted that October 18 is the deadline for parties to present their presidential and national assembly candidates, and November 2 for governorship and state house of assemblies candidates.