Leave Amina Zakari Alone, Family Blasts PDP

- Says Zakari An ‘Election Expert’

The family of Mrs Amina Zakari, a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has reacted to calls for her removal as head of the 2019 presidential election collation center.

Zakari had found herself at the center of controversy after she was appointed head of the 2019 election collation committee by INEC last week.

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The calls for her removal came against the backdrop of allegations that she meddled in last year’s Osun state governorship election that saw the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Gboyega Oyetola, emerging as winner.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had described her appointment as head of the election collation center as “another heinous machination by the Buhari Presidency and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to subvert the will of the people and rig the February 16 Presidential election.”

The PDP had claimed that Mrs Zakari was related by blood to President Buhari and as a result was unfit to head the election collation center.

But reacting in statement by a representative of the family, Isah Zakari, Mrs Zakari’s family slammed the PDP for allegedly spreading malicious reports against their daughter whom they described as “one of the most accomplished election experts in Nigeria.”

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The statement reads: “We have taken this decision in firm belief that this clarification will put to rest the ceaseless campaign of calumny orchestrated to pull her down.

“Amina Zakari is a patriotic Nigeria who has served her country faithfully and honestly for years without blemish. We are therefore pained by the report that portrays Amina Zakari working to sabotage INEC’s firm determination to advance the democratic journey by creating a conducive atmosphere for citizens to exercise their voting rights.

“Contrary to the widespread belief, Amina Zakari is not a blood relation of President Muhammadu Buhari. Her mother was from Daura (born and bred in Kano) and she was not Buhari’s sister. It’s also true that Buhari’s sister was once married into the family. The union was short lived and did not produce a child. This all happened well before Mrs. Zakari was born.

“Furthermore, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, the veteran Kano politician who first made the claim that she was born by Buhari’s sister has since recanted. Those who have held on to the claim are therefore either unaware of his recantation or they are simply incapable of letting go their prejudices in the face of facts to the contrary.

“It is laughable that Mrs. Zakari who was appointed National Commissioner by former President Goodluck Jonathan under a PDP government can no longer perform any function in INEC because she is a supposed relation of President Muhammadu Buhari.

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“The pieces of information being sold to the press about Mrs. Amina Zakari by the PDP are absolutely false, tendentious, malicious and highly reprehensible.”

“She has now served under 3 different President’s in various capacities and has served her nation in a forthright and honest manner with the utmost humility and much sacrifice,” the statement read.

“She is one of the most accomplished election experts in Nigeria with 2 elections under her belt (2011,2015).

“What is unfortunate is instead of celebrating an accomplished woman to support diversity in our polity and groom our future female leaders, we are stuck on belittling Mrs. Zakari’s accomplishments to mere familial ties. If we begin to harangue and harass our officials for family ties (which they do not control) over competence we shall have no one to serve.

“Enough is enough leave our mother, daughter, sister alone to serve the nation as she has done so diligently over her life and career.”

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