…says using known APC members will compromise poll
posted February 8, 2023
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Wednesday, rejected the plan by the Independent National Electoral Commission to use the Parks Management Committee led by Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo) for election logistics on February 25 and March 11.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said deploying members of an organization led by a known All Progressives Congress (APC) member and campaign arrowhead of APC flag bearer, Bola Tinubu is already a compromise of the forthcoming general elections.
The group accused the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos State, Olusegun Agbaje of working for the ruling APC and clandestinely perfecting a scheme to actualize the plot by-election saboteurs to rig the elections and put their person in power against the will of the Nigerian people.
Agbaje had said that INEC will engage MC Oluomo’s people to distribute election materials and personnel in Lagos on election days. He spoke during the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting at INEC Office on Tuesday, in Lagos.
“The commission in Lagos State does not have any option than to use the park management system. We are not dealing with Oluomo, we are dealing with the park managers. Individual people that have vehicles are those we are going to use,” he had said.
However, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “The plan of INEC to use the organization led by a known APC member who has been seen in many rallies of Bola Tinubu in Lagos, Ogun, Kwara, Osun, Ekiti, and other places is condemnable and anti-democratic. HURIWA rejects this in its entirety.
“Apparently, the Lagos Resident Electoral commissioner is working for Tinubu and APC. INEC needs to immediately redeploy him for electoral integrity if any at all will be achieved in the next election.
“Also, HURIWA demands that INEC finds an alternative to the Central Bank of Nigeria and not keep sensitive and non-sensitive materials in the custody of the apex bank headed by a known APC member and a former presidential aspirant of the ruling party. This is totally wrong.”