INEC: Stop Telling Buari To Call Us To Order... He Doesn’t Dictate Our Jobs

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is not under the direct supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari or "any other person or authority".

INEC director of publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said this in response to the allegations that the commission was compromising its independence.

Some civil society organisations (CSOs) and chieftains of the PDP accused INEC of compromising its independence. But Osaze-Uzzi said most of the allegations levelled against the commission were as a result of some of its decisions not favouring the accusers.

His words: “What we have always been doing is trying to assert our independence; trying to work in accordance with the laws. Sometimes this favours one set of people, sometimes it doesn’t.

“From our experience, when it doesn’t favour them, they make some allegations to undermine the commission, its integrity, its independence and try to bring it down in the eyes of the public.

“ Ironically, some of the same people are accusing us of compromising our independence and calling on the president to call us to order .

“We are not under the direction or supervision of the president or any other person or authority, so, why should the same set of people be calling on the president to call us to order?”

He said the same set of people accusing INEC of compromising its independence were the ones who want the electoral body to be compromised.

“They are the ones asking the national assembly and everybody to call us to order. If you read the constitution very well, we [INEC] are not under the control of any body or institution.”