*It is worrisome opposition parties are with APC impunity in smSenate – Election Observer
*As groups slam appointment of REC for Akwa Ibom
By KEMI KASUMU
Nigerian lawyer, Barrister Maxwell Opara, has expressed his disturbance about the way President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is handling Nigeria’s only means of getting their country’s system right.
The DEFENDER reports that election is the only means through Nigerians can effect change but that a manipulated Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will make it impossible to happen.
Barrister Opara, who was speaking an early Monday morning KAKAAKI interview programme on AIT, noted that since the office of the president occupied by Tunubu is a creation of the Constitution, it is wrong for him to do things which make operationality of that Constitution impossible.
He was referring to the appointment of chief of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Etekamba Umoren, as INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who is said to be an ally of Senate President Godswill Apabio, for Akwa Ibom State.
The lawyer talked on several areas President Tinubu has breached the Constitution including the appointment of Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was particularly unhapped that not even the Senators slammed the members of the Senate over their nonchalance approving the impunity of the President despite public outcries
Another guest and election observer, Ezenwa Nwangwu, said the temperament of the politicians is always the cause of electoral malpractices and violence in Nigeria.
“If the governor wants a peaceful election he will have it,” he said.
He took a swipe on members of the opposition in the Senate, who sat there in the National Assembly while all the impunity by the ruling party was being allowed to pass unchecked.
On how, he said, “they can walk out to show that they are not with their impunity but they did not.”
In another development, a Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State chapter, faulted the appointment of Etekamba Umoren, saying he is unfit to be on the INEC seat as chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Franklyn Isong, who is the Director General of Centre for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN) on behalf of other groups said the appointment of Umoren, “a card-carrying member of the ruling All Progressive Congress,” could mar the conduct of future elections if not reversed immediately.
“Etekamba Umoren is a card carrying member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State who had also campaigned for the APC during the elections.
“The appointment of Etekamba Umoren will further undermine citizens’ confidence in INEC and increase mistrust in the commission.
“The appointment will also jeopardise the trust of other political parties in the commission.”
Isong, who was addressing a press conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the appointment, stressing that the nominee did not meet the constitutional requirement for such an office.
“We collectively demand that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the public interest should withdraw the appointment of Mr. Etekamba Umoren as a Resident Electoral Commissioner in INEC from Akwa Ibom State.
“Etekamba Umoren does not meet the constitutional requirements of being non-partisan as defined by Section 156(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be appointed as an INEC Commissioner.
“Etekamba Umoren is not only a card-carrying member of the ruling All Progressives Congress but, an active politician who had held several political appointments including as the Secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom State under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), before he defected to the ruling APC in Akwa Ibom State on the 8th of August, 2018,” the groups said.
Other groups have already voiced their concerns about the appointment rejecting it as not being in sync with the country’s constitution.
