INEC speaks on Amina Zakari: Why we won’t remove her

Mrs. Amina Zakari will not be in charge of collation of results Presidential Election results, a senior official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has said.

The officer said contrary to fears expressed in certain quarters, she will only be in charge of the administration of the presidential collation centre.

This clears concerns that the INEC has appointed Mrs. Zakari to head the presidential collation centre.

The senior officer, who pleaded not to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the matter to the media, said her role will basically be to oversee issues around the administration of the venue.

“Her committee is an in-house committee responsible for water, electricity, briefing rooms, ushers and internet facilities among others. There is the results collation committee/secretariat which is separate and under the exclusive control of the INEC Chairman.

“The Collation Centre committee has no role in processing results collated from the states and presented to the Chairman by Vice Chancellors who serve as Collation Officers,” the official said.

According to him, part of the committee’s responsibilities is the administration of the Collation Centre, including sanitation, refreshment, accreditation of observers, media, party agents and nothing technical.

“It is the standard name used by the Commission in 2015. Incidentally, she was the Chairperson of the Committee in 2015 and it played no role in results collation. Jega was totally in charge,” he said.