The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that the controversy surrounding the appointment of Amina Zakari as chair of its collation centre committee is a needless one.

Speaking on Zakari’s new role while featuring as a guest on Channel Television’s Sunrise Daily, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi said the position has nothing to do with announcing the votes at the end of collation.

Osaze-Uzzi, the director of voter education and publicity at INEC, said the text of the INEC chairman did talk about the role of the committee, stressing that it is “basically an administrative committee”

He said the committee is a statutory management committee appointed to ensure that “They go to the international conference centre, negotiate with the management about the use of the centre for about two to three weeks for the period the election”.

Noting that he is also a part of the collation centre committee, Osaze-Uzzi said the primary concern of the board is to take charge of the physical structure.

He said the chairman of INEC by virtue of the constitution is the returning officer of the country for the presidential election, adding “it is he who decides the validity of votes and any issue encountered in the process”.

Osaze-Uzzi further informed that Zakari is a member of the committee because she is in charge of welfare.

He said Mrs Zakari was suitable for the position having been involved in negotiating with the ICC management in 2015.

Meanwhile, Aliyu Abdullahi, the deputy media director of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation, has said that contrary to the claims made by the PDP, Amina Zakari is not a blood relative of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Amina Zakari was appointed on Thursday to chair the INEC Committee on Collation Centre, a development that stirred debate across the country, with the opposition party claiming that Amina is a niece to the president.

In dismissing claims made by the PDP, Aliyu Abdullahi who was guest on Sunrise Daily argued that the PDP is misinforming Nigerians.

According to Aliyu, “The PDP is crying wolf and are trying to misinform Nigerians because Amina Zakari is not a blood relation of President Muhammadu Buhari”.

Daring the PDP to prove him wrong, Aliyu said the President is from Daura in Katsina state while Amina Zakari is from Jigawa state.

He further argued that the outcry over Zakari’s new appointment is poor show by the PDP, especially because she was appointed “a national commissioner of the INEC by the previous administration led by Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan since 2011”.

Aliyu further argued that he sees no bias in Zakari’s appointment owing to the fact that she has been in the INEC for quite a while, hence her being chosen to chair the collation committee is most likely based on her years of experience. (Channels TV)

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