Newly appointed REC from Akwa Ibom received’t be sworn in now —INEC

The Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee, (INEC), has stated the newly appointed Resident Electoral Fee (REC) from Akwa Ibom State, Etekamba Umoren, won’t be sworn in till the tenure of the present REC from the state, Monday Udo-Tom, expires in January.

INEC’s Nationwide Commissioner and Chairman of Info and Voter Training, Sam Olumekun, and the spokesperson to the INEC Chairperson, Rotimi Oyekanmi, disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES in separate responses Friday and Saturday.

Mr Olumekun corroborated Mr Oyekanmi when he stated: “The brand new REC can solely assume duties after the expiration of the tenure of the present REC whose time period expires later,” Mr Olumekun stated.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Oyekanmi stated it could be uncommon for 2 RECs from the identical state of origin to serve on the identical time.

He then despatched an extra clarification that the tenure of the newly appointed REC from Akwa Ibom would solely take impact after the tenure of the present one ends in January subsequent 12 months.

“The tenure of the present REC from Akwa Ibom State will expire in January subsequent 12 months. The tenure of the brand new REC from the identical Akwa Ibom State will solely take impact after the tip of the tenure of the present one,” he stated in a textual content to our reporter.

‘Good follow’

Mr Oyekanmi added that the present appointment of RECs forward of the expiration of the opposite’s tenure may very well be precedent.

“With the good thing about hindsight, that is really good follow,” he stated on Saturday. “It’s higher to have a REC-in-waiting than to permit a reigning REC’s tenure to run out earlier than scrambling to nominate a brand new one.”

Two years in the past, the ninth Senate Committee on INEC stepped down the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as INEC nationwide commissioner from Delta State on the grounds that there was no emptiness for the position as of the time of her nomination.

Tinubu’s unlawful REC appointments

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how President Bola Tinubu goofed with the appointment of Mr Umoren as REC from Akwa Ibom state when the present REC from the state, Mr Udo-Tom has not less than three months to the tip of his five-year tenure. Mr Udo-Tom at present serves because the Delta State REC as INEC rules don’t enable RECs and Nationwide Commissioners to serve of their states of origin.

This newspaper additionally discovered that Mr Umoren’s nomination and subsequent affirmation by the Senate was unlawful as he was a member of Mr Tinubu’s political celebration, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a long-time ally and loyalist of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

That is opposite to Paragraph 14, Merchandise F of the third Schedule of the 1999 structure which particularly dictates that partisan individuals shall not be appointed to the electoral fee.

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But, Mr Tinubu and the tenth Senate beneath Godswill Akpabio defied the constitutional provisions to appoint and make sure Mr Umoren and Isah Shaka, the REC from Edo State.

Two different RECs, Bunmi Omoseyindemi (Lagos) and Anugbum Onuoha (Rivers), are discovered to be long-term allies of Mr Tinubu and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Instances in partnership with Report for the World, which matches native newsrooms with proficient rising journalists to report on under-covered points across the globe