Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has been appealed to, as a matter of urgency
and for public interest, investigate the Commission's Resident Electoral
Commissioner, REC, in Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila Khan, over allegations that she
received a N600 million bribe from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the
state. The investigation, it has been argued, will help INEC determine the
level of rot Mrs. Khan has superintended as INEC Boss in Rivers State.
In a statement in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, signed by
Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Chairman, All Progressives Congress, APC, the party
argued that the allegation alone is sufficient to disqualify Mrs. Khan from
holding such a sensitive public office, or, in fact, any other office of trust.
“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, an indisputable hatchet man for PDP in
Rivers state, the party stated, is obviously blinded by the ungodly gift from
an interested party in the general elections in the state.
The APC stated that in outright contravention of her
oath of office, Mrs. Khan has played open partisanship and allegiance to PDP,
recruiting a willing mind in the person of Mr. Bocco Ekong, INEC's Head of
Operations in the state. “With this Man Friday, 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 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.
APC Rivers State has therefore, challenged Prof. Jega
to a moral test in the hope the allegation will not be swept under the carpet.
“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.
The party expressed dismay that Prof. Jega had
retained Mrs. Khan in Rivers State with the excess baggage on her head. “We
wonder why Jega has allowed REC 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”.
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