Ahead of the forthcoming general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has expressed confidence in the capacity of its Resident Electoral Commissioner REC in Lagos State, Mr. Segun Agbaje to superintend the exercise, dismissing allegations of partisanship against him.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi in an interview advised those calling for the removal of Mr. Agbaje to perish the thought.
Oyekanmi also implored partisans calling for Agbaje’s redeployment to respect the boundaries of the relationship between the Commission and political parties.
Reacting to calls for Agbaje’s removal over alleged mismanagement of the Permanent Voters’ Cards PVCs collection in some parts of Lagos and the engagement of the Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Olumo)- led Lagos State Parks Management Committee to convey election materials for the Commission, Oyekanmi dismissed the allegations which he described as misinformation and a deliberate distorting of facts.
He said; “Let me make one thing clear upfront: Mr. Olusegun Agbaje will not be removed as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos over unfounded allegations. He will not only conduct the Presidential/National Assembly election scheduled for 25th February 2023, he will also superintend over the Governorship/State Houses of Assembly election holding on 11th March.
“He is a conscientious, honest, dependable, and hardworking Resident Electoral Commissioner. His integrity speaks for him in all the places where he had served.
“Let me break this down for you. During the recent Continuous Voter Registration CVR that took place between June 2021 and July 2022, Lagos State under Agbaje registered the highest number of voters in the country – 585,629. On 27th January this year, we announced that out of the 940,200 Permanent Voters’ Cards PVCs delivered to Lagos State as of that date, 839,720 PVCs representing 89.3 percent had been collected.
“This debunks the allegation that the Lagos REC deliberately withheld the PVCs belonging to persons from a particular region of the country.
“As for the movement of election materials in Lagos State, the Commission is engaging individual vehicle owners. Unions don’t have vehicles and even if they have some, they cannot possibly provide the number of vehicles that the Commission requires to conduct the general election. Rather, the unions are made up of individuals that own vehicles. You then have to negotiate with the vehicle owners and join the unions as witnesses and for accountability purposes. We have been conducting elections in Lagos and we have been using these individuals who own vehicles that meet our specifications.”
Oyekanmi assured Lagosians and voters who intend to vote in Lagos that their votes will count.
