INEC Chairman Contravened Electoral Act, Should Be Questioned

…Says Human Rights Lawyer

By Ikeugonna Eleke

A human rights lawyer based in Anambra, Barr Christopher Enemuo, has stated that the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, contravened relevant sections of the Electoral Act.

The activist lawyer while speaking to journalists in Awka said the INEC chairman rather than talking about conducting the governorship and House of Assembly Elections, should rather be answering questions about fraudulent practices during the Presidential Election.

Similarly, Enemuo had last week called for the arrest of the INEC chairman by the Department of State Service, DSS.

The lawyer said, ‘It is an offence for the INEC chairman not to upload election results through the BVAS, and that, on its own, is an offence already committed by the chairman.

‘I do not understand why the INEC chairman is still moving around as if nothing happened; he is yet to be arrested and investigated by the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria.

‘There are stipulated circumstances by our laws as to when persons could be arrested; when they are planning to commit a crime, while committing a crime and when a crime is already established.

‘On our national television, right before our law enforcement agencies and Nigerians, the INEC chairman committed an electoral offence.’

The lawyer called on both the Labour Party and People’s Democratic Party legal team to officially petition law enforcement agencies and other essential bodies so that criminal and civil suits would be instituted against the INEC chairman.