Mrs. Adebayo, who the INEC boss, Maurice Iwu, erroneously claimed yesterday, was ill, surfaced in Abuja, today, from Abeokuta, her hometown, hale and hearty. According to sources, her journey to Abuja followed an invitation by the director-general of the State Security Service, SSS. Her resignation may have been because she decided not to succumb to pressure to announce the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the weekend re-run election in Ekiti state.
Ekiti INEC Boss Quits, Tenders Letter To Presidency-UPDATED from PM NEWS, LAGOS
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Ekiti state, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, this morning, stunned the presidency and the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission when she tendered her letter of resignation in Abuja.
Mrs. Adebayo, who the INEC boss, Maurice Iwu, erroneously claimed yesterday, was ill, surfaced in Abuja, today, from Abeokuta, her hometown, hale and hearty. According to sources, her journey to Abuja followed an invitation by the director-general of the State Security Service, SSS. Her resignation may have been because she decided not to succumb to pressure to announce the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the weekend re-run election in Ekiti state.
A copy of her letter, according to sources, has been dispatched to Maurice Iwu. Iwu told a news conference yesterday, in Abuja, that one of the reasons the winner of the Ekiti state governorship re-run has not been declared was because Mrs. Ayoka broke down on Sunday as a result of the hectic activities involving the re-run election held last Saturday. The other reason Iwu gave for the stalemate was that the election in Oye must be conducted and the result known before a winner would be announced.
However, family sources of Mrs. Adebayo’s told P.M. NEWS, this morning, that the woman INEC commissioner is hale and hearty. The sources debunked the official line by INEC headquarters that the woman took ill on Sunday. ‘’Her health is sound. Since Sunday she has been talking to her family members to explain the situation in Ekiti. Mama is not ill at all. She is okay.’’
Indeed, to put a lie to the claim by the INEC chairman that Mrs. Adebayo was indisposed, the woman left for Abuja, today, to answer a summon by the State Security Service. P.M NEWS can confirm that she was sighted in Abuja today. She was summoned to give her report on the Ekiti election imbroglio. Said sources close to her: ‘’the woman intends to tender all the documents in her possession about the election and give her official report. So far, the woman remains adamant that the election in Ido-Osi and Oye are inconclusive. She also does not intend to cave in to pressure that she announces the PDP candidate, Engr. Segun Oni, as the winner of the election based on the falsified result from Ido-Osi.’’.
P.M. NEWS also learnt that Mrs. Adebayo will see her boss, Maurice Iwu, to tender the same documents. According to family sources, Mrs. Adebayo maintains that, as a christian, she will not indulge in anything that will soil the family name. ‘’She will rather resign than succumb to pressure’’, said the sources. Mrs. Adebayo disappeared from the INEC radar, Sunday, to safeguard herself, following pressure being piled on her to announce fake results in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Segun Oni.
The 74-year-old Adebayo left Ado-Ekiti on Sunday, a day after the election, following disputes over the results of the elections in Ido-Osi and the twice-postponed election in Oye, marred by violence unleashed by thugs suspected to be loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party. Ido-Osi is the hometown of Oni. In spite of the controversy surrounding the outcome of the Ido-Osi poll, Iwu, yesterday, gave a hint that INEC has endorsed the result when he announced that only the Oye election was outstanding, adding that election had been concluded successfully in nine out of the 10 local government areas where the re-run was to take place.
“In all, election was concluded in nine out of the 10 local government areas and in 61 wards of the 63 registration areas. Results from the polling centres were signed off by agents of the political parties as required by law,” Iwu said, at yesterday’s news conference in Abuja. No date has been fixed for the rescheduled election in Oye even as president Umaru Yar’Adua has ordered Iwu to set a definite date for the election.
Yar’Adua met with his deputy, Jonathan Goodluck; the president of the Senate, David Mark and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday, over the stalemate in Ekiti. Instructively, all the people at the meeting are PDP members, who actively campaigned for Segun Oni. Mrs. Adebayo’s resignation may have disrupted the game plan of the PDP over the heavily militarised election in Ekiti state and their determination to claim the trophy ‘’by all means’’ possible. Meanwhile, fresh demonstrations broke out in Ado-Ekiti this afternoon. It was carried out by members of the Artisans Association of Nigeria. They want the result of the election released immedaitely.
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