From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi,
A chieftain of All Progressive Congress (APC), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, to stop meddling in the internal affairs of political parties.
In a statement by his media office in Abuja, yesterday, the former presidential candidate, said: “INEC is not a court of law and neither is Yakubu, a school principal, to bark out orders to political parties that he considers his students.”
Last Friday, INEC, in a March 11 letter, signed by its Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, to the party’s acting chairman, rejected the notice for an emergency meeting of the APC national executive committee (NEC).
But, Olawepo-Hashim insisted the party’s “invitation to observe a meeting of the APC is not an occasion to give lectures on how the party should run, they were merely invited to observe.
“INEC could just have stayed away. It would not have invalidated the meeting. Under the constitution of parties, deputies can call meetings where authorised officials are not available.
“A third of membership of any party organ can call a meeting. It is not just chairman and secretaries of parties that can call meetings. There is something fishy about INEC actions. It is like INEC is working a script to complicate things for the APC.”
The APC chieftain also maintained that INEC’s hastily rolled out election timetable, which stipulates all parties must conduct their primaries between April and June is suspicious and could have been designed to favour some political interests; contrary to the spirit and provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 which stipulates nomination must close, at least, 180 days to election.
“One hundred and eighty days to election is September 2022 not June. In spite of many good provisions of the Electoral Act, it carries many obnoxious provisions that impugn on citizens political rights as well as freedom of association.”