Elections: Controversy As SSS Summons Top INEC Officials

By


From left: Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu; INEC National Commissioners, Mr Festus Okoye; Dr Mustafa Lecky and Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, during the visit of Long Term ECOWAS Observer's delegation to INEC headquarters in Abuja on Monday (21/1/19). 00705/21/1/2019/Hogan Bassey/BJO/NAN

The State Security Service (SSS) has summoned the senior official who substantively heads the Independent National Electoral Commission’s operations and logistics, Okechukwu Ibeanu, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt

This is an indication the secret service may have moved to investigate the circumstances that led to the postponement of Nigeria’s elections earlier scheduled to hold last Saturday.

Mr Ibeanu, a professor of political science, was asked to report at the SSS office by 2:00 p.m., multiple sources close to INEC told this paper.

Apart from Mr Ibeanu, others asked to appear before the SSS include Chidi Nwafor, the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Ken Ukeagu; Osaze Uzzi, the Director of Voter Education and Publicity and Bimbo Oladunjoye, the Assistant Director of ICT.

A Disjointed INEC

Although Mr Ibeanu heads the commission’s operations and logistics department, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that a separate team appointed by the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, handled the logistics for the election.

Three months to the election, on November 6, Mr Yakubu announced the setting up of an “advisory committee on logistics for the 2019 general elections.”

The internal memorandum announcing the committee to INEC officials was signed by Maryam Iya Musa, the Director, Commission Secretariat.

Mr Ibeanu, who officially heads the INEC logistics department, was not made a member of the committee.

“Curiously, close to the election, INEC chair created an ad hoc committee on logistics for the 2019 elections which reported directly to him. Prof Ibeanu is not a member of that committee,” said our source, an INEC insider.

Another source close the INEC leadership said such committee was unprecedented in INEC’s history.

“There was nothing like that under Jega (Attahiru, immediate past INEC chairman). Nobody knows why Professor Yakubu decided to duplicate functions and hand such a crucial task (logistics) to a committee when there is a department to handle it,” the source said.

The 15-member advisory committee is headed by another national commissioner, Ahmed Mu’azu, a retired Air Vice Marshall.

Two other national commissioners of INEC – Abubakar Nahuche and Mohammed Haruna – are also members of the committee. Other members include representatives of the country’s military services and other government institutions such as the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Road Safety Commission.

The committee was given four terms of reference: “advise the commission on timely deployment of election logistics, proffer solutions to logistics challenges, coordinate logistics support from development partners and other agencies, and any other related matters.”

Curiously, no member of the committee was invited by the SSS, raising concerns the agency may not be aware of how INEC has operated or may be deliberately going after the wrong person.

Officials Keep Mum

INEC’s spokesperson, Festus Okoye, could not be reached to comment on this report. He did not answer calls placed to his phone and also did not reply to a text message.

The spokesperson for the SSS, Peter Afunaya, when contacted simply said: “I am not aware.”

The elections were called off by Mr Yakubu hours before the exercise was due to open on Saturday. He blamed logistics difficulties for the failure.

In a remark yesterday, Mr Buhari vowed INEC will explain “what caused the postponement” after the elections.

Also, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adam Oshiomhole, accused INEC of working in cahoot with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. He said the commission had divulged the information of the postponement to the opposition much long before the decision was eventually taken.

***

Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/02/elections-controversy-as-sss-summons.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prostitution; Nigerian Women At Growing Risk From Human Traffickers In Germany.

By
Image
According to InfoMigrants, Nigerian women are at growing risk from traffickers in Germany who exploit and engage them in prostitution. Read the full report below by InfoMigrants. The new prostitute protection law in Germany was meant to identify victims of human trafficking – most of them migrant women. More than 18 months after the law came into effect, thousands continue to be targeted for exploitation, and the risk for Nigerian women seems to be increasing. There are campervans parked by the roadside. Some have hearts painted on them, one says “girls, girls” in red letters. It’s an easy matter for someone to stop for a quick transaction in one of these Love-Mobiles – sex with one of the “girls” in exchange for the going rate. Prostitution is mainly legal in Germany, as are these mobile brothels. But many of the women in the business – including those working from the Love-Mobiles – are victims of illegal human trafficking. Most of the women are from Eastern Europe or Nige
Read more

FULL TEXT: A sacrifice for our new political order – Ezekwesili

By
Image
“When the ACPN leadership approached me in a series of visits to appeal that I run for office on their platform, the party appeared to be a good fit. It was founded by some disgruntled PDP members some years ago, but when its prime founder decided to return to the PDP, a core of its membership refused to move back with him. I was told that they stayed back because of their opposition to the ways of the PDP. Considering my vocal disapproval of the PDP and the APC, I admired the ACPN’s decision to stand firm and refusal to be co-opted.” It has been an interesting one week since I made the tough but necessary decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. I have been truly overwhelmed by the reactions to my announcement from Nigerians. Even in airports outside the country as I travelled last week, Nigerians walked up to me with questions, concerns, encouragement, and motivation. I also saw disappointment by some who had poured their hearts and hopes into actualising our mission
Read more

Update On Slay Queen Who Was Stripped Naked And Tortured Over Missing Phone.

By
Image
The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olusegun Odumosu, 24 hours to unravel those behind the torture and insertion of pepper into a girl’s private part in Benin City over alleged stealing of a mobile phone.  Chairman of the platform and former Student Union President of the University of Benin, Mr. Abubakar Yesufu, who said this in a statement yesterday, also urged the state Director, Department of State Services, DSS, to be involved in the investigation. A video of the incident, seen by Vanguard yesterday, showed the girl being stripped naked by a group of people, who inserted pepper into her private parts for allegedly stealing a phone. The unidentified girl was heard crying and saying she didn’t steal any phone, while she was being humiliated by the crowd. Yesufu said: “The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given the Edo State Commissioner of Police 24 hours to arrest and commence prosecution of all the street urchins behind this ba
Read more