Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Naja’atu Mohammed, a loyalist of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for what she called the rigging of the February 25 presidential election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Naja’atu, who was a director in charge of civil society organisations in the APC Presidential Campaign Council before her defection to PDP, also berated Buhari for allegedly abusing the rule of law, blatant corruption and other similar vices, which she said were the hallmark of governance in the past eight years.
In a statement she personally signed and made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Naja’atu chided Buhari for the open display of his ballot paper after voting, describing the behaviour as an affront to the nation’s secret ballot model of voting.
“The just concluded presidential election has further exposed the inability of the President Muhammadu Buhari to rule this country fairly and justly; a President that has never shied away from spitting on the laws of the land that have been entrusted to him to serve, and to protect.
“He is the President that has led the most inept and corrupt regime in the history of Nigeria; a President that promised us free and fair elections after putting Nigerians through the most hardship recorded in the history of this country, only for him to fail to deliver on his electoral promises; a President that will openly and brazenly raise his ballot paper before the public to show the world who he has voted for.
“With such an embarrassing action, not only did the President commit an illegal act by going against the secret ballot system enshrined in our electoral law, but also against the electoral law that calls for the end of political campaigns 48 hours before the election.
“These unlawful acts by the President is a clear directive by the President to the Independent National Electoral Commission and to the security agencies on what party to favour and to rig for.
“This administration will unfortunately be remembered as an administration that maintained contempt for the rule of law and never shied away from disobeying court orders.
“With such disregard for the new Electoral Act, it is clear that INEC as an institution, starting with the chairman of the commission has been compromised and therefore, the chairman of the commission should resign with immediate effect, as Nigerians cannot trust him to oversee the governorship election.”
Reacting, APC’s Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, said Naja’atu lacked credibility and she should not be taken seriously.
“Naja’atu is a member of the Police Service Commission. You will recall that she was dropped from the list of supervisors to monitor election activities in the North East after the APC PCC petitioned the PSC because of her partisanship. She was not just openly partisan, she was also a card-carrying member of the PDP.
“She got the position of member of the PSC by virtue of her membership of APC from the North-West. If Naja’atu has shame and credibility, she ought to have resigned completely from the PSC immediately she dropped her membership of the APC. But because it is lucrative, she was only interested in relinquishing her membership of the party and not membership of the position she secured through the party.
“That does not show a person with credibility. You cannot divorce your wife and still be sneaking in to meet her. If you leave, you have to leave completely. That is the meaning of resignation in principle.
“Anybody with this kind of dented credibility cannot pontificate about the credibility of any agency or personality. This is because if you want equity, you mustn’t come with dirty hands. Her hands are soiled. She is not in a position to talk about anything,” Ibrahim said.
