The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has sent its administrative secretary in Kano, Garba Lawal on retirement leave, following a petition against him.
A civil society organisation, the Center for Awareness on Justice and Accountability, CAJA, had raised an alarm over alleged refusal of Mr Lawal to proceed on mandatory retirement leave, ahead of his retirement.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in Kano had also staged a protest at the commission’s office in Kano, calling for the administrative secretary’s immediate removal.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered the commission set up a committee to investigate the allegation, and directed for the replacement of Mr Lawal with a new administrative secretary in person of Mohammed Dauda.
Background
A petition addressed to INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, dated February 2, and signed by the executive director of CAJA, Kabir Dakata, said the action of Mr Lawal contravenes the 2017 revised condition of service rules of INEC.
The petition was copied to the US and UK embassies, the EU election observer mission, the Transition Monitoring Group, and the ECOWAS election observer mission, among others.
Mr Dakata also alleged that the officer was one of the electoral officials who compromised the 2019 governorship election in the state in favour of the ruling party in the state.
“It has come to our notice, that the aforementioned management staff of this esteemed commission is due to retire in March 14, 2023.
“It is also a fact at our disposal that by provisions of paragraph, 6.20, of the INEC Staff Condition of Service, revised in 2017, that an officer of the commission is required to give 3-month notice of retirement from service and to proceed on a three-month mandatory pre-retirement leave before the effective date of his/her retirement,” Mr Dakata said.
He noted that the administrative staff was recently affected by a nationwide transfer and reshuffling of senior staff carried out by the commission, but some political elements in the state who want to keep him to do their bidding influenced the reversal of the transfer.
“Further to the above, a background check conducted by this center reveals that the staff in question was affected by the recent nationwide reshuffling and transfer of senior staff of the commission in order to achieve improved and transparent general election come 2023.
“However, while the officer presently functions as the administrative secretary in Kano, it has been widely alleged that it took the intervention of some vested interests to reverse his transfer and prevent him from proceeding on his mandatory leave, so as to help them achieve their objective in flagrant violation of the law.
“It is also pertinent to bring to your kind attention the widespread allegation of participation of the officer concerned in the widely condemned rigging of the Kano State 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, which has been attested to by many national and international observers,” the CAJA boss said.
The center urged the INEC chairman to compel Mr Lawal to proceed on the mandatory leave in order to boost the confidence of the electorate and protect the credibility of the forthcoming polls, especially in Kano State.
“It is our firm belief also that preventing the said officer from serving in INEC Kano office during the period he is mandatorily required to be on leave would address the issues of allegations of collusion, between some fingered politicians, and the said officer,” Mr Dakata added.
