The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to remove the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lagos, Olusegun Agbaje, for his alleged partisanship and compromise.
The Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the PDP, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement on Wednesday, said it was curious that Agbaje had insisted on working with the Lagos State Park and Garage Management Committee led by transport kingpin, Musiliu Akinsanya, aka, MC Oluomo who is a member of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council.
Shaibu reminded INEC, not to promote illegality by working with a partisan organisation which is filled with APC members that are working for Bola Tinubu.
He queried INEC for entrusting sensitive materials for distribution on Election Day across Lagos by people who are not credible warning that their actions could undermine free and fair election.
He called on the INEC to sanction Mr. Agbaje for insisting on using MC Oluomo’s committee despite protests from members of the public.
According to Shaibu, Agbaje was the REC who superintended over the fraudulent 2018 governorship election rerun in Osun State, which even the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union discredited.
He said Mr. Agbaje, superintended over the fraudulent and violent Osun governorship rerun, which produced Gboyega Oyetola as governor, stressing that the 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.”
Shaibu observed that even election monitoring groups like the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) dismissed the Osun rerun as “fraudulent and anti-democratic”.
He described as unfortunate that for the same Agbaje, who could not effectively supervise a rerun in a few polling units has been given the task of superintending the election in Nigeria’s largest state with over seven million registered voters.
“The election is doomed to fail if INEC doesn’t do the right thing by removing him.
“We remind the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, that this will be his last general election before the end of his tenure. We ask him to protect his legacy by removing Mr. Segun Agbaje if he insists that MC Oluomo must be the one to handle sensitive INEC materials. This election must not only be free but it must be seen to be fair as well.” He added.
Shaibu stated that as of Wednesday morning, following the Agbaje’s position as the Lagos REC, over 17,000 Nigerians have signed a petition on Change.Org titled, ‘Remove Olusegun Agbaje as the Lagos INEC Commissioner for Incompetence and Bigotry’.
MC Oluomo is a well known All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential candidate “boy” and a member of his Campaign Council.
Meanwhile, Shaibu has described Agbaje’s excuse for using MC Olomo, as watery adding that INEC would not be able to use the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), because they had been barred in Lagos State.
“The law is clear that only a court has the power to proscribe an organisation. That was why the Federal Government had to go to court to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN).
“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.
“How could such people be given sensitive materials to be distributed across Lagos on election day? This has already undermined the possibility of a free and fair election. INEC must sanction Mr. Agbaje for insisting on using MC Oluomo’s committee despite protests from members of the public.
“Recall that it was Mr. 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.”
