The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it will not redeploy the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Lagos State, Mr. Segun Agbaje.
Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this while reacting to claims made by the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that INEC plan to transport electoral materials through the Lagos State Parks Management Committee chaired by Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Oyekanmi said Agbaje could not be removed over “unfounded allegations”.
He dismissed the allegations against the REC, describing it as deliberate misinformation and distortion of facts, not needed with days to this year’s general elections.
Oyekanmi, who urged those demanding Agbaje’s redeployment to perish the thought, also urged the two political parties calling for Agbaje’s redeployment to respect the boundaries of the relationship between the commission and all political parties.
“Let me make one thing clear upfront. Mr. Olusegun Agbaje will not be removed as the REC 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 House 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,” he said.
According to him, 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 being 585,629.
Oyekanmi said, “On 27th January this year, we announced that out of the 940,200 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’ that own vehicles that meet our specification.”
