2019 elections: PDP rejects Zakari as chair of collation committee

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the appointment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s blood relation, Amina Zakari, as head of collation centre for the 2019 elections.

The party described the development as plot by the President and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the coming polls.

INEC had on Thursday inaugurated two ad-hoc committees for the election, naming Zakari, an INEC national commissioner, as the person to head collection centre, which was one of the committees.

The commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said during the inauguration that the committee shall be responsible for the national collation centre – the International Conference Centre – from where results of the Presidential election will be announced.

But in its reaction through its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, at a press conference in Abuja, PDP said the development was another heinous machination by the Buhari Presidency and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to subvert the will of the people and rig the February 16, Presidential election.

The statement read as follows:

“You will recall that we have been raising the flag on how the Buhari Presidency, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some individuals at the echelon of INEC have been seeking ways to compromise our electoral processes and open the way for the allocation of fictitious votes to President Muhammadu Buhari, having realized that he cannot win in a credible, free and fair polls.

“Today, we have been informed that the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, apparently in furtherance of the plots to rig the Presidential election, has appointed Mrs. Amina Zakari, a blood relation (niece) of the APC candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, as the chairperson of INEC Advisory Committee and Presidential election Collation Center Committee.

“The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) outrightly, vehemently and unequivocally rejects, in its entirety, the appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari, President Buhari’s blood relation, as the head of the collation of results, in the same election in which his uncle, President Buhari, as a candidate, has displayed a huge desperation to win.

“The appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari, who had been openly accused in various quarters as being the link person between INEC and the Buhari Presidency in their schemes to rig the election for President Buhari, constitutes a direct violence against the Presidential election and the PDP will not, in any way, whatsoever, accept it.

“This is the same Amina Zakari, who headed the ICT Department of INEC at the time that department was accused of manipulating the INEC voter register to accommodate fictitious, underage and alien voters, particularly, in remote areas where they plan to allocate and announce conjured votes for President Buhari and the APC.

“It will interest Nigerians to note that this is the same Amina Zakari that was alleged to have played some roles in the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, where the electoral processes were flagrantly abused.

“In appointing Mrs. Amina Zakari to head the collation of this Presidential election, Prof. Yakubu has confirmed that he has been compromised and that he has already succumbed to pressure by the Buhari Presidency and APC to open the way for the self-succession of President Buhari.

“The fact remains that there is no way Amina Zakari will not allocate votes to her blood relation, President Buhari, whom Nigerians have indicated clearly that they are not ready to return to office as President.

“With Amina Zakari at the head of results collation, there is no way votes cast by Nigerians will count.

“We, therefore, call on all Nigerians and particularly the National Peace Committee to note that with the appointment of Amina Zakari, as head the collation of Presidential results, the INEC Chairman is setting the stage for a very huge political crisis, which is capable of derailing our democratic process.

“We also urge the United Nations and other global democratic institutions to take copious note of this noxious appointment by the INEC chairman.

“If the INEC chairman wants a peaceful Presidential election, he should, with the speed of light, reverse himself on this appointment.

“In fact, the PPCO reiterates its position that for us to have a peaceful election, Mrs. Amina Zakari should not be seen anywhere near any of the 2019 election processes, not to talk of being involved in the collation of Presidential results

READ ALSO: 2019: INEC appoints Buhari’s blood relation, Zakari head of collation centre

“The PDP remains committed to a peaceful and credible process, but we will never, in any way, allow anybody to use any means, under any guise whatsoever, to rig us out in this election. Not after it is clear that Nigerians have attained a consensus to rally behind our Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as their next President.

“All we ask for is a free, fair, credible and transparent electoral process in which the votes of Nigerians will not only count but will be seen to have counted.

“Like Mr. President said during his 2019 budget presentation at the National Assembly, the world is watching us.”

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