The Acting National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mrs. Amina Zakari, has said she accepted her appointment with humility.
She told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that she would do her job diligently and that the commission would continue to work hard with the aim of delivering on its assignments.
Zakari said that her tenure should be seen as the continuation of that of the former Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
Jega left the commission on Tuesday after the expiration of his five-year tenure.
The new acting chairman of the commission said, “I accept my appointment with humility and with dedication to serve. I believe it is just a continuation of what the former Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has started which has been at a high level and there shouldn’t be any problem.
“I have been part of the process. I have known the problems, challenges and I have seen the successes. What is remaining is for us to build on the successes and try to tackle the outstanding challenges.
“I must say a lot has been done to improve the electoral processes in Nigeria through the past Chairman, Prof. Jega, and a lot more needs to be done.”
Zakari was full of praises for Jega, saying that the former university don had done the bulk of the job needed to be done in the commission.
She said, “I must say it is like trying to reach an equilibrium because the bulk of the work has been done by the former Chairman, Prof. Jega, to bring the quality of changes to election management to a higher level.
“So, all we need to do is to put all hands on deck to improve further on what he has done and improve on the good practices he has left behind.
“Basically, with the cooperation of all, and the support of members of staff and the people of Nigeria, we should be able to do it pending when a new commission is put in place.”
On the challenges ahead of her, she said challenges could not be envisaged “because they come as the need arises,” but added that they would be tackled as they come.
She said that the commission needed to improve where it seemed to have failed or erred during the last elections.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Progressive Political Parties, the umbrella organisation for 13 registered political parties in Nigeria, has condemned what it calls “the dangerous, irresponsible and inciting statement issued by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on the appointment of Zakari.”
Her appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari had drawn opprobrium from Chief Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday and signed by the Chairman of the Coalition and National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Movement, Mallam Bashir Ibrahim, the COP3 decried what it described as “the dangerous precedent, whereby a political party is trying to decide for the country who becomes the INEC chairman.”
The function which, it said, is constitutionally reserved for the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the National Assembly.
In reference to the statement made in Abuja on Wednesday by Metuh, rejecting the appointment of Zakari, the coalition warned that “any interference by political parties in the appointment of INEC officials is tantamount to politicising the process and the commission itself, which is capable of creating dangerous schism in the commission and generating unnecessary tension in the country.”
The statement added, “INEC is an independent election management body which must be insulated from politics and irresponsible politicking.
“The power of and procedure for the appointment of the chairman of INEC is a constitutional matter and not subject of bargaining by political parties, especially those who are yet to come to terms with the fact that Nigeria is on a very strong change trajectory. INEC is also a regulator of political parties.
“It is an anomaly for the parties which the commission is supposed to regulate to dictate who becomes the commission’s chairman. Obviously, for some parties, it is still midnight.”
Ibrahim recalled that Zakari was not appointed to the commission by Buhari in 2015, but that she was appointed as INEC National Commissioner by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 and by the time she was appointed acting INEC Chairman, she had the distinction of being the most senior INEC National Commissioner in terms of the time she had served.
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