Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting inconclusive elections, noting that the electoral body’s dismal performance is a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
Fayose described the postponement of Rivers State re-run elections and the alleged manipulation of the Imo North Senatorial election as another dangerous signal of what to come in 2019.
In a statement issued by Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor reiterated his fear that “democracy in Nigeria is being threatened by INEC and this should call for national and international reflection.”
He said: “Lovers of democracy in Nigeria and the entire world should be worried that after conducting inconclusive elections in Rivers State in March this year, INEC postponed conclusion of the elections twice.
“INEC had on June 20 after a meeting with relevant stakeholders fixed June 30 as new date for the conclusion of the poll.
“However, the electoral commission postponed the elections for the second time, claiming reports of violence, and one wonders how INEC will be able to conduct elections in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2019 if it has not been able to conclude elections in Rivers State in four months”
The governor said President Muhammadu Buhari should be worried that since he assumed office, all elections conducted by INEC ended inconclusive, adding that it should be clear to the President and his party men that absence of free, fair and credible electoral process is a direct invitation to anarchy.
He said: “Nigerians had thought issues of violence, ballot snatching and electoral fraud had been put behind them only for them to be brought back frontally by the Buhari’s government.
“President Buhari should ask himself if he would have been elected if the system then did not allow free and fair elections. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, should also be worried if there would have been an INEC to head if the 2015 elections had been inconclusive.”
