APC asks Jega to investigate allegation of N600m bribe offered to REC in Rivers

Jega

The
All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has appealed to the Chairman
of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, to investigate the Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner,
REC, in the State, Mrs. Gesila Khan.
The APC is making the appeal
over allegations that Khan received a N600 million bribe from the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.
Chairman of the APC
in Rivers State, Davies Ibiamu Ikeanya at a media briefing argued that
the investigation would help INEC determine the level of rot Khan had
superintended as INEC boss in Rivers State.
The party argued that
the allegation alone was sufficient to disqualify the REC, Gesila Khan
from holding such a sensitive public office, or, in fact, any other
office of trust.
Khan
who the APC described as “an indisputable hatchet-man” for PDP in
Rivers state, was further accused of frustrating the APC in Rivers
state.
Ikeanya stated that in outright contravention of her oath
of office, the state REC had played open partisanship and allegiance to
PDP, recruiting one Bocco Ekong, INEC’s Head of Operations in the state.
According
to him, “Mrs. Khan ought to have resigned her appointment long-time ago
when it became obvious to her that she lacked the confidence of the
APC, and other political parties in Rivers State in her dealings as the
electoral supervisor for INEC in Rivers State.
“If for no other
reason, Mrs. Khan ought to have cared enough about Nigeria to resign her
appointment in order to preserve the integrity of the electoral
processes in Rivers State as well as their outcome.
“Mrs.
Khan has transformed from a Resident Electoral Commissioner to an
errand girl of the PDP. In order to justify their huge collections from
PDP, Mrs. Khan, in connivance with Mr. Ekong, has displayed hostility to
the All Progressives Party, APC, and its governorship candidate.
“At
a point, she personally supervised the thorough beating of APC’s State
Agent and lawyer, Barr. Achinike William-Wobodo, right inside the
premises of INEC and at other times, had openly disparaged APC.
“Mrs.
Khan has invented every tactic in hell to frustrate the APC from
obtaining necessary and relevant, statutory Certified True Copies, CTCs,
of electoral materials it shall use in her petition to the Election
Petition Tribunal.
“Aware of the time-bound status of election
petition matters, Mrs. Khan, in order to justify the bribe, has worked
for the PDP by turning her office into results’ writing centre, where,
shamelessly, in tandem with men of questionable character such as Mr.
Ekong, has daily altered supposed results to tally with the huge figures
they allocated to PDP at the April purported election.
“To avoid
appearing before justice to defend the indefensible, Mrs. Khan has been
busy importing figures that never existed all in the name of election
results. If she had no skeleton in her cupboard, why had she barred APC
and her governorship candidate, Dr. Peterside, from obtaining the
materials despite several letters and complaints?”
“The APC
further argued that justice will be grossly impaired if Mrs. Khan
continued in her incumbent office while she faced an investigation,
saying that it would amount to being the investigator, judge and jury in
her own case.
“We challenge Jega to a moral test, how he will
sweep this one under the carpet? We challenge him to prove to the world
that there is nothing “special” about Khan that is yet hidden from
others.
“We wonder why Jega has allowed Khan, who is a true
offside of personal and corporate integrity, to remain in Rivers State.
This additional burden of bribery tying Mrs. Khan’s neck is nothing but a
proof that even if Jega let her stay in Rivers state for an eternity as
REC, Mrs. Khan will remain an antithesis of democracy and all its
tenets. The Workers’ Day gift INEC can give to democracy, and by
extension, Rivers people, on May 1 is the immediate investigation of
Mrs. Khan. And as is the global best practice, she should stand aside as
REC while investigations would last.

“And
should Jega decline to investigate her, he would stand eternally
accused of being an accessory after the fact of a democratic coup
d’état. Let Jega take this step to reaffirm INEC’s stance as an
impartial umpire and in justification of the testimonials of him as an
honourable man and an incorruptible judge. We call on Jega not to allow
Mrs. Khan soil his hard-earned reputation”, Ikeanya said.