Mrs. Amina Zakari, recently appointed Chairman, Advisory Committee and Presidential Election Collation Centre Committee, says she will not resign from the post as she had no blood relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari as alleged.
The announcement of Zakari, a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Thursday, Jan 3, as Chairman of the Collation Centre, had been faulted by the opposition parties who claimed that she was Buhari’s niece, insisting that the votes of Nigerians would not count if she mans such a sensitive office.
They, therefore, called on the INEC boss, Mahmood Yakubu, to remove her from the position.
However, the Presidency at the weekend denied that Zakari is a blood relation to the President explaining further that Zakari was made a national commissioner during the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Reacting to the controversy generated by her recent appointment in an interview with the BBC, broadcast on Saturday, Zakari, also denied being related to President Buhari by blood.
She said: “I’m not his niece; I am not his cousin and, on this job, I was appointed since 2010 by President Jonathan. Prior to that, I was appointed as SA to President Obasanjo and I have done my work conscientiously over the years as a patriotic citizen of Nigeria.
“I don’t think I should be distracted now that elections are coming. I will continue doing my work. I will continue to serve my country to the best of my ability with the best of intentions. President Muhammadu Buhari is my President as everybody else’s President.
“He is not my cousin; he is not my uncle as is being claimed but I know him as my leader and the leader of the nation.”
Still, the opposition will not let go as they are insistent that she be removed as the Chairman of the Collation Centre.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, called on the INEC Chairman to reverse Zakari’s appointment so as to give all candidates a level playing field and ensure peace.
She suggested that by the said appointment, Yakubu appeared to have succumbed to pressure from the presidency adding that; “such repugnant deployment of Zakari to the collation centres suggests a brazen attempt to ease rigging for the APC’s candidate in the election.”
The statement read further: “Zakari can be assigned another task farther away from tasks that can hinder electoral integrity.
“Or how else can one describe this repugnant action of placing the President’s niece, Mrs Amina Zakari, at the head of the centre for collation of election results?
“The President and INEC chairman should know that this extremely repugnant and provocative act of political corruption that seeks to undermine our democracy and destabilise the country shall be resisted by all patriotic Nigerians.
“I caution the INEC chairman and the Presidency to reverse this shameful posting immediately and safeguard the integrity of the 2019 elections.”
Again, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Saturday, insisted that Buhari’s admission that he had a marriage relationship with Zakari had vindicated its position that she could not be trusted with the collation of the presidential election results.
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National Publicity Secretary of the party and Director, Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, further described Zakari as “a major identifiable threat to Nigeria’s democracy, national stability and corporate existence as a nation.”
His words, “It is now clear that in addition to the relationship by affinity, Buhari also has a consanguinity relationship with Zakari and has not denied that he started his early childhood in Amina Zakari’s father’s house.
“President Buhari’s admittance has effectively established that the PDP has not been crying wolf on the impropriety of involving Zakari in the collation of presidential election results, let alone being appointed to head the final determination of the presidential election.
“It is totally unethical and immoral for an umpire to insist on officiating a contest even when her impartiality is called to question. Even in the judiciary, judges recuse themselves in cases involving parties they have affinity with. Zakari must, therefore, recuse herself if the 2019 presidential election must be credible.”
For the former governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose, the appointment of Zakari was a moral burden on Buhari, the APC and INEC.
In a statement on Saturday by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, Fayose noted that given the doubt being raised over Zakari’s ability to be neutral during the election, it was only fair and equitable that she should step aside from playing any role in this election, adding; “Even if Amina Zakari can be as impartial as she can be, nevertheless, now that Nigerians are thinking that there is real likelihood of her being biased, she should excuse herself; more so that she is not the only national commissioner in INEC.
“When Amina Zakari was appointed as INEC national commissioner, President Buhari, her blood relation, was not a presidential candidate.
“Certain things can be good but might not be morally right. This issue of Amina Zakari, a known blood relation of the APC presidential candidate, functioning as INEC head of collation centre, is morally wrong.
“Let every political party too bring somebody to the situation room. It shouldn’t be a hidden agenda.
“Therefore, the Presidency and INEC have the moral burden to prove to Nigerians that they are not in any way out to short-change them.”
As Chairman, Advisory Committee and Presidential Election Collation Centre Committee, Mrs. Zakari will be in charge of the collation of results for the February 16 presidential poll, in which president Buhari, the APC candidate and her alleged relation is contesting.