The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately remove its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Lagos State, Olusegun Agbaje, for alleged partisanship.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said it was curious that Agbaje was insisting on using the Lagos State Park and Garage Management Committee, headed by transport kingpin, Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, to transport materials for the upcoming general elections.
MC Oluomo is said to be a member of the presidential campaign council of All Progressives Congress (APC), and has led programmes recently to advance the candidacy of the Presidential candidate of the APC.
Atiku described as watery Agbaje’s excuse that INEC would not be able to use the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) because they had been banned in Lagos State.
The statement said, “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).
“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.”
Atiku wondered how such clearly partisan persons could be allowed to handle such a sensitive task, stressing that it is unacceptable.
The former vice president said in the statement, “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 Agbaje for insisting on using MC Oluomo’s committee, despite protests from members of the public.”
The PDP presidential candidate recalled that Agbaje was the REC who superintended over the “fraudulent” 2018 governorship election rerun in Osun State which the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union also discredited.
