Atiku escalates calls for INEC to remove him, and to not use MC Oluomo to distribute voting materials
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Atiku Abubakar has joined the voices asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove Lagos Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Segun Agbaje over his public partisanship for and compromise with Bola Tinubu.
Atiku cited the insistence of Agbaje to use the Lagos State Parks and Garage Management Committee (LSPGMC) headed by Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, to distribute election materials.
MC Oluomo, a known thug, is an errand boy of Tinubu and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) whom Tinubu has used for election purposes since his days as Lagos Governor
Atiku dismissed Agbaje’s excuse that INEC would not use the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) to distribute election materials because they are banned by the state government.
“The law is clear that only a court has the power to proscribe an organisation. That was why the Federal Government had to go to court to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN),” Atiku insisted in a statement he issued through his Media Aide Phrank Shaibu.
“What Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did in Lagos State was to arbitrarily announce a ban on the activities of the NURTW because the organisation suspended MC Oluomo, the APC’s henchman.
“INEC must not promote illegality by working with a partisan organisation which is filled with APC members that are working for Bola Tinubu.
“How could such people be given sensitive materials to be distributed across Lagos on election day? This has already undermined the possibility of a free and fair election.
“INEC must sanction Mr Agbaje for insisting on using MC Oluomo’s committee despite protests from members of the public.”
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Agbaje’s antecedents in Osun
Agbaje as REC superintended “the fraudulent 2018 governorship election rerun in Osun State which even the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union discredited,” Shaibu said, per reporting by Tribune.
“It was Mr. Agbaje who superintended over the fraudulent and violent Osun governorship rerun which produced Gboyega Oyetola as governor.
“US Consul General, John Bray, was spot on when he stated, ‘We witnessed what appeared to be incidents of interference and intimidation of voters and heard reports of harassment or party monitors, journalists and domestic observers.’”
Other election monitoring groups like the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) dismissed the Osun rerun as “fraudulent and anti-democratic,” Shaibu added.
“Unfortunately, it is the same Agbaje, who could not effectively supervise a rerun in a few polling units that has been given the task of superintending the election in Nigeria’s largest state with over seven million registered voters.
“The election is doomed to fail if INEC doesn’t do the right thing by removing him.
“We remind the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, that this will be his last general election before the end of his tenure.
“We ask him to protect his legacy by removing Mr Segun Agbaje if he insists that MC Oluomo must be the one to handle sensitive INEC materials. This election must not only be fair but it must be seen to be fair as well.”
Running public petition against Agbaje
Shaibu said by Wednesday morning, over 17,000 Nigerians had signed a petition on Change.Org titled, ‘Remove Olusegun Agbaje as the Lagos INEC Commissioner for Incompetence and Bigotry’.
He recounted how Agbaje has also been criticised over his comments on the disenfranchisement of Igbos in Lagos.
On Wednesday, Agbaje referred to the Igbo in Lagos on Channels Television as immigrants to justify why they could not get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“It is disheartening that the Lagos REC, Mr Segun Agbaje, has begun to show open partisanship. We find it curious that it is the local governments considered as opposition strongholds that were unable to get their PVCs.
“Historians and analysts have described this 2023 general election as a watershed. The destiny of over 200 million people is at stake. INEC says it is ready to deliver a credible and free election but one weak link in the chain of command can undermine the entire process.
“We call on Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to remove the Lagos REC, Mr. Agbaje, as his credibility is seriously in doubt.
“Again, we call on INEC not to use the MC Oluomo-led partisan organisation to distribute ballot papers on election day.”