Ayade’s aide berates INEC’s REC over comments on governor’s eligibility to run for Senate

Mr. Linus Obogo, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, has described as personal opinion, comments by the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Mike Igini, on the recently conducted APC primary for Cross River Northern Senatorial Zone, insisting that they do not represent the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Reacting to Igini’s comment, Ayade’s deputy spokesperson said Igini’s attempt at interpreting Section 115(D) of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended, amounts to meddlesomeness and a cheap usurpation of responsibility assigned only to a spokesperson.

Obogo said: “It beggars belief that Igini, who is a staff of INEC, an agency of the Executive arm of government, would brazenly meddle in the duty of the judiciary as well as playing the role of a spokesman to INEC.”

Obogo continued: “No doubt, Igini’s feverish attempt to offer judicial interpretations to Section 155(D) of the Electoral Act, is clearly a reckless exercise in executive rescality.

“In Igini’s usual hysteria,” the spokesman bellowed, “he sought to conflate the presidential and constituency primaries as one and the same, and in doing so, he attempted to set Governor Ayade up against the Electoral Act, by giving contrary interpretations to what the law says about double nomination forms.

“There is no doubt that Ayade bought a form and equally participated in the March 26 APC presidential primary, but at no time did he obtain a form to contest another political party’s presidential primary, which was what Igini would want the public to believe during his ill-tempered outing on one of the national television stations recently. The governor neither took part in multiple presidential nor constituency primaries.”

Clarifying, Ayade spokesperson said his boss’ participation in the July 14 primary was the outcome of the previous ticket holder withdrawing from contesting the 2023 senatorial election, culminating in the vacancy of the ticket and subsequent conduct of a fresh primary. He said the governor’s participation in the fresh primary held on July 14 was within the ambits of the Electoral Act.

Obogo accused Igini of “trying to lay legal ambush against Ayade by seeking to disingenuously smuggle into the Electoral Act what the framers of the Act never intended.

“The Akwa Ibom REC cannot be allowed to go on brewing the storm everywhere he goes, especially as the sun is about to set on his turbulent reign as INEC Commissioner.”

Laying further charge, Obogo wondered why Igini usually displays overly partisanship towards candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who took part in similar fresh primaries, citing Bauch State governor, Bala Mohammed who participated in a similar exercise a few days after losing the bid for the PDP presidential ticket.

“In spite of his posturing as Mr. Integrity of INEC, Igini cannot hoodwink us that he is not sympathetic to the PDP, by maintaining tight lips when Bala Mohammed had a fresh primary conducted for him barely a few days after losing out in his party’s presidential primaries.

“Besides, why is Igini pretending not to be aware that the electoral umpire, INEC, which he is a REC, monitored the fresh primaries, which was in any case a validation of the exercises he is dissipating energy to malign?”

Obogo entreated Igini: “Please, Mr. REC, in your less than one month to your exit, leave Ayade alone and focus more on ending the confusion you have created in Akwa Ibom APC. You have enough on your hands already, even as you try to do the job of Mr. Festus Okoye, as the curtain draws on your chequered and troubled REC stewardship.”