…Umoren not our member

From Fred Itua and Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

Labour Party (LP) has condemned appointment by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of a member of the All Progressives Party (APC) as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) saying it may be pushed to take legal actions.

Spokesperson for the LP Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, told with Daily Sun:  “I think the party needs to visit the Constitution and look at the options that are available for us because we cannot continue to allow such things to continue this way. There will not be fairness. These are some of the things we are actually asking for in constitutional reforms. If the constitution is being used to put some people in positions of RECs, how do you expect such people to be fair. So, we will look at the constitution’s position and take it up constitutionally and, if possible, visit the court to challenge it.”

In response to accusations that the LP was docile and had not lived up to its reputation as an opposition party, Yunusa said the party had simply been slowed down by the numerous election litigations but was now prepared to play its role.

“What happened is that we were challenging the election but now that that is done, we are going to be dealing with issues as they emerge. We were just waiting to finish the issue of court case.”

He also said the party had a cordial relationship with it members at the national and state assemblies and that they would be meeting soon to come up with some impactful positions.

On the assertions that LP lawmakers were not efficient and worse than their APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts in terms of holding the executive accountable, he said: “That is not true because majority of them are new and it is a work in progress but when we finish our meeting, we will be able to champion a kind of reinforced position that everyone would be happy with.”

Meanwhile,  the APC in Akwa Ibom State has disowned the newly-appointed REC, Etekamba Umoren.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the party, through the media aide to the Senate President, Eseme Eyiboh, said even when it welcomed the appointment of Umoren, it frowned at allegations that he is a card-carrying member of the party in Akwa Ibom.

It said the pictures of Umoren adorned in APC campaign attire were not enough to conclude that he is a bonafide member of the party.

The party called on those pushing the allegations to discredit the appointment of Umoren to come forward with concrete evidence of his registered membership as outlined in the party’s constitution, pointing out that the pictures of him in APC attire could have been photo shopped, adding that his previous appointments as secretary to the state government and chief of staff to the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has nothing to do with partisanship.

The appointment of Umoren has been a subject of controversy with civil societies involved in Nigeria’s electoral process kicking that his appointment was in breach of the law that rules out any politically exposed person from taking the position.

Eyiboh said: “The issue of Umoren as a nominee, REC, is very clear. And I’m also aware of the petitions, complaints, and all of that. I can tell you that the law on the issue of the person who should not be said it should not be a card-caring member of a political party.

“Umoren is a bureaucrat. He served in Akwa Ibom State executive as a permanent secretary. He was a career civil servant as a permanent secretary. And he was employed in that same executive, not by the political party, as the chief of staff and then secretary to state government not to serve a political party but to serve a government.

“So, there is difference between a political party appointment and the government appointment. I have also seen that some alleged he wore the uniform of the APC. The law is very strict on who is a member of a political party.

“Member of political party must not only a card-carrying member of that party, he must be in a good financial standing with that political party.

“His name must be among the registered members of that political party. The prescription has nothing to do with uniform or mode of dressing.

“I’m sure you are also aware, in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), I can wear this cloth and then they can change this garment to become a suit. So, you must be aware that the possibility of cloning is also possible. You can’t rule that out. But what substantially defines a member of a political organisation or party is the register of membership. Two, meeting the criteria so set out by that organisation.

“So, it is not true. It is speculative. It is spurious to say that Etekarnba is a member of the APC. That’s not correct.”