The acting national chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Okechukwu Obioha, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of maintaining a strong link with the party's former national chairman, Michael Koleoso, and three other officials, despite their defection to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The other officials are the national secretary, treasurer, and Magaji Kwarianga, Tunji Adebiyi, and Musa Umar.
Mr. Obioha wrote the chairman of the electoral body, Attahiru Jega, and the police informing them that the officials had since left the party, but were still holding on to its sensitive documents.
The letter had said, "We request and appreciate with utmost importance and expectations that the INEC you now head, will do the legal and right thing by approving what we have done in the given circumstance.
"Please direct Chief Michael Koleoso, the former chairman, and the other trio named above, to hand over every document and property of Alliance for Democracy in their possession in the interest of true democratic practice you have come to bequeath us and for the peace and unity of this country," the letter said.
However, Mr. Obioha told our correspondent in a telephone interview yesterday that several months after he personally submitted the letter to INEC, it is yet to act on it. He alleged that the commission still deals with the former officials in violation of the rules guiding party monitoring.
"INEC has not replied us. The reply is long overdue. INEC is no longer what they used to be. I thought they should be able to honour what we have done, but I am surprise they still have something to do with our former officials," Mr. Obioha said.
He explained that the tenure of Mr. Koleoso and the other officials had expired, but that they have been coercing members of AD to accept a proposal to merge it with the ACN.
He added that following the proposal, a convention was held which turned out to be a charade, adding that this resulted to his appointment by the national executive committee (NEC) as acting national chairman of the party, since Mr. Koleoso and the others had indicated their intention to move to the ACN.
The acting national chairman also alleged that the affected officials have refused to return the documents of the party since then, and that the commission has refused to prevail on them to do so.
Neither Mr. Koleoso nor the other former officials could be reached for comments.
But INEC said it will attend to the letter and other similar petitions in due course after thorough investigations.
"All petitions to INEC will be responded to in due course after thorough investigations of the issues involved," Kayode Idowu, media aide to Mr. Jega, told NEXT yesterday.
Source:http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5642621-147/party_chieftains_fault_inec__.csp
The other officials are the national secretary, treasurer, and Magaji Kwarianga, Tunji Adebiyi, and Musa Umar.
Mr. Obioha wrote the chairman of the electoral body, Attahiru Jega, and the police informing them that the officials had since left the party, but were still holding on to its sensitive documents.
The letter had said, "We request and appreciate with utmost importance and expectations that the INEC you now head, will do the legal and right thing by approving what we have done in the given circumstance.
"Please direct Chief Michael Koleoso, the former chairman, and the other trio named above, to hand over every document and property of Alliance for Democracy in their possession in the interest of true democratic practice you have come to bequeath us and for the peace and unity of this country," the letter said.
However, Mr. Obioha told our correspondent in a telephone interview yesterday that several months after he personally submitted the letter to INEC, it is yet to act on it. He alleged that the commission still deals with the former officials in violation of the rules guiding party monitoring.
"INEC has not replied us. The reply is long overdue. INEC is no longer what they used to be. I thought they should be able to honour what we have done, but I am surprise they still have something to do with our former officials," Mr. Obioha said.
He explained that the tenure of Mr. Koleoso and the other officials had expired, but that they have been coercing members of AD to accept a proposal to merge it with the ACN.
He added that following the proposal, a convention was held which turned out to be a charade, adding that this resulted to his appointment by the national executive committee (NEC) as acting national chairman of the party, since Mr. Koleoso and the others had indicated their intention to move to the ACN.
The acting national chairman also alleged that the affected officials have refused to return the documents of the party since then, and that the commission has refused to prevail on them to do so.
Neither Mr. Koleoso nor the other former officials could be reached for comments.
But INEC said it will attend to the letter and other similar petitions in due course after thorough investigations.
"All petitions to INEC will be responded to in due course after thorough investigations of the issues involved," Kayode Idowu, media aide to Mr. Jega, told NEXT yesterday.
Source:http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5642621-147/party_chieftains_fault_inec__.csp
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