Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development, Jibrin Ibrahim, has claimed there is ample evidence of partisanship against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that Ibrahim, the chairman of Premium Times Editorial Board, made this allegation during an interview on ARISE Television’s ‘Prime Time’ programme.
According to him, though the INEC Chairman is new, there has been numerous evidence of partisanship within a short time.
Ibrahim stressed that Amupitan’s intervention, in targeting the main opposition party without a legal basis, which most senior lawyers in the country find unacceptable, justifies the accusation of partisanship.
He said, “This indicates we have a partisan person, who has come to do the job of his master. He had partisan opinions in the last election and showed that partisanship openly on X.
“I think the chairman of INEC is relatively new. He’s just been appointed, but in a very short time, we’ve seen numerous evidence of partisanship.
“His intervention in terms of targeting the main opposition party without a legal basis that most senior lawyers find unacceptable in this country justifies that.”
Meanwhile, the youths of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) staged a protest at the INEC office in Yaba, Lagos.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the demonstration, which occurred on Monday, demanded the resignation of the electoral body chairman, Joash Amupitan.
The protesters displayed placards bearing inscriptions such as ‘ADC is not for sale’, ‘Amupitan is already compromised’ and ‘Democracy is dialogue, not monologue.’
The party’s national deputy youth leader, Adeola Olusi, led the protest amid the presence of security operatives.
The party’s national youth leader, Balarabe Rufai, on Monday announced in a post on 𝕏 that youths would protest in Lagos and Ogun, with the demonstrations tagged ‘Operation Occupy INEC.’
The protest was scheduled to commence at 8am at Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech) in Lagos.