The Independence National Electoral Commission is currently investigating some of its officials suspected to be behind the alteration of the list of candidates submitted to the Commission by political parties, investigation by GidiGlobe has shown.
The affected officials were suspected to have formed a syndicate within the Commission. The syndicate receives ‘contracts’ from politicians to alter the list of candidates sent to INEC by parties and in some cases substitute names with that of their clients.
“They forge signatures and documents to perfect their evil deeds,” a source within the INEC told one of our correspondents.
Already, members of the syndicate are being probed our correspondents learnt on Thursday.
When contacted on our findings, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, who did not confirm or deny the happening, said the Commission was prepared to deal with the problem. “I can assure you that there are enough checks in the system. There are enough safety checks in the system to address these issues. The system has the capacity to check it,” he said.
Idowu, said, “The chairman has said it time and again that the commission would not protect anybody caught subverting the system whether the person is a member of staff of the commission or not. There are procedures for substitution and the commission has always insisted on this.”
He said all petitions by aggrieved candidates were being treated, adding, “I don’t want to go into specific cases but I can assure you that the commission has always insisted on the avenues for substitution that the law provides for.”
Investigations in Abuja revealed that INEC’s action came in the wake of sundry petitions and pre-litigation letters it had received from some candidates that their names had been withdrawn without their knowledge or approval.
It was gathered that such replacements were done through forged signatures of the affected candidates, purportedly giving consent to the act, followed by the disappearance of their original documents like affidavits deposed in support of personal particulars.
A top official of the commission who insisted on anonymity because of he sensitive nature of the case, admitted that such cases existed, adding that the electoral body was deeply concerned, given its zero tolerance for corruption.
Consequently, the source said a mechanism had been put in place to deal with the issue and fish out the bad eggs in the system.
One of such illegal substitutions affected a member of the House of Representatives, and Chairman of its Committee on Communications, Mr. Dave Salako, who represents Sagamu/Remo North Federal Constituency in Ogun State.
Angered by his purported replacement with one Oladipo Adebutu, Salako sent petitions to the chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, dated March 7, 2011. One of the petitions was signed by his lawyer, Mr. Gani Bello, while another one was personally signed by him.
Salako claimed that his substitution was done by forging his signature, even as he was the third plaintiff in the case of Peoples Democratic Party faction that won a legal battle against the faction led by Governor Gbenga Daniel, on March 3, 2011 in Abuja.
His petition came barely two days after another candidate for the House of Representatives polls from the same Ogun State, Mr. Samuel Oni, in a public notice, warned INEC to be cautious of a bid to unlawfully replace him , stressing that he remained the legitimate candidate of the party.
A judgment by Justice Kafarati of the Federal High Court had declared Gen. Tunji Olurin as governorship flag bearer of the PDP in Ogun State and other candidates for National Assembly and state assembly elections produced by a faction of the PDP said to be loyal to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Bello’s petition reads, “We understand that our client has not indicated to anybody or PDP that he is not interested in the election, neither has he signed any document to decline the contest. There is therefore no basis for the substitution.
“In fact, your office should not have honoured the application for substitution because the time within which such could be lawfully made by anybody had lapsed.
“We understand you have zero tolerance for illegality. Please demonstrate it in this case.”
In the letter he personally signed, Salako states, “I did not sign any document to decline contest in the 2011 election as required by law.
“I was not contacted to confirm or reject my forged signature on the paper presented to you by the person who unlawfully substituted my name.”
Adebutu had allegedly emerged from the primaries that the Joju Fadairo-led group conducted, which Justice Kafarati had declared illegal
According to INEC timetable, February 14 was the last day for substitution of candidates by political parties in the case of national assembly elections.
Also, February 21 was the deadline for substitution or withdrawal of candidates for the presidential poll.
The substitution or withdrawal of candidates for governorship and the state House of Assembly elections ended on February 28.
According to Section 32 of the 2010 Electoral Act, no party is allowed to change or substitute a candidate whose name has been submitted to INEC, “except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate.”
Also Section 35 of the Act states that, “A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered by himself to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the Commission and which shall only be allowed not later than 45 days to the election.”
But with less than 30 days to the April elections and expiration of INEC’s deadlines, allegations of substitution of candidates at the commission still persist with the connivance of some officers of the commission.
A media report on Thursday had stated an INEC official was in trouble over an attempt to smuggle the name of Mr. Gboyega Isiaka as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria in Ogun State.
Until his defection to the PPN, Isiaka had emerged as the governorship candidate of a PDP faction led by Daniel. The faction’s list of candidates was rejected by INEC following a judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Oni, who shares the same experience with Salako is a PDP candidate for Owode/Odeda/Abeokuta North Federal Constituency, for the House of Representatives election.
Oni said in the advertorial that he was not “privy to any move for changing of my name as the PDP candidate in the election and any step taken by anybody for the purpose of changing my name as the PDP candidate in the election is fraudulent and unlawful.”
A top official of INEC, who pleaded anonymity, said on Thursday that the commission was aware that some bad eggs were conniving with politicians to substitute names of candidates illegally.
He said, “You will recall that INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Tuesday warned that any official who committed illegality would be prosecuted.
“There are some bad eggs, which are bent on substituting candidates illegally. Such people do not want to admit that what we have now is a new INEC. I can assure you that the commission is watching those people and they will be fished out and punished.”
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