President Muhammadu Buhari has laughed off claims that INEC Commissioner, Amina Zakari, is his blood niece.
Ever since INEC announced Zakari as the head of the committee on Thursday, some Nigerians including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) kicked against the decision alledging She’s the blood relation (niece) of the APC candidate, Buhari. PDP said:
“There is no way Amina Zakari will not allocate votes to her blood relation, President Buhari with her as head of the committee”.
However, in a statement signed by President Buhari’s spokesperson Garba Shehu, the presidency said:
“the PDP has continued their baseless accusations regarding Hajiya Amina Zakari, a commissioner in INEC, accusing her of partiality and casting doubts about her integrity as an electoral commissioner.
“In their desperation, they forget that it was the PDP government that appointed her in the first place and they keep lying, as they have been caught doing on so many issues, by imputing a blood relationship between her and President Muhammadu Buhari”.
According to the presidency, there are no blood ties between Zakari and President Buhari.
“President Buhari and Commissioner Amina Zakari do not share a family relationship. An inter-marriage occurred in their extended families, so the imputation of blood relationship between the president and the electoral commissioner is a lie.”
The Buhari presidency also accused the PDP of harboring a hidden agenda.
“What is even more curious about all the fuss coming from the PDP is that they, as a ruling party picked Mrs Zakari, judging her by her own merit and made her an electoral commissioner.
“She served so well with distinction as can be verified from the records, that President Buhari approved the recommendation that she be reappointed, as he did other PDP nominees for second-term of four years.
“PDP, therefore, has no moral right to keep harassing this hardworking mother unless they have a hidden agenda.
“By this statement, the PDP is guilty of scoring an own goal and two, of harassing an innocent citizen on the basis of a lie, pure and simple”.