The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised an alarm over the proposed collaboration between the Lagos state chapter of INEC and the controversial leader of transporters in the state Musiliu Akinsanya (MC Oluomo).
This criticism is coming less than 24 hours after the resident electoral commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, called for the collaboration in order to help INEC with their logistics plan on the of election.
The current INEC REC, Olusegun Agbaja was in the same position during the controversial 2018 Osun re-rerun election.
As reported by the Punch newspaper, Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu in a statement issued on Wednesday, February called for the dismissal of Mr Agbaje by INEC.
According to Shuaibu, the usage of Lagos state park and garage management committee will compromise the credibility of the election based on the premise that MC Oluomo is a staunch member and supporter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and a protege of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC.
“What Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did in Lagos State was to arbitrarily announce a ban on the activities of the NURTW because the organisation suspended MC Oluomo, the APC’s henchman. INEC must not promote illegality by working with a partisan organisation which is filled with APC members that are working for Bola Tinubu.
Atiku recalls Agbaje’s allged fraud in Osun re-run as INEC REC As contained in the statement, Shauibu reflected on Agbaje’s role in the 2018 re-run election in Osun state which was under his watch as an INEC REC in the state.
He alleged that Agbaje fraudulently sabotaged the election and stole the mandate of the PDP while noting that even the United States and the United Kingdom confirmed the lack of credibility in the election.
Shuaibi said: “Recall that it was Agbaje who superintended over the fraudulent and violent Osun governorship rerun which produced Gboyega Oyetola as governor. US Consul General, John Bray was spot on when he stated: ‘We witnessed what appeared to be incidents of interference and intimidation of voters and heard reports of harassment or party monitors, journalists and domestic observers.’” “Unfortunately, it is the same Agbaje, who could not effectively supervise a rerun in a few polling units that has been given the task of superintending the election in Nigeria’s largest state with over 7 million registered voters.
The election is doomed to fail if INEC doesn’t do the right thing by removing him.