The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Akwa Ibom State branch on Monday condemned the allegation on the State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of been biased in the conduct of both 2019 general elections and the court ordered re-run elections in Essien Udim local council of the state.
The All Progressives Congress APC in the state had in different fora accused Brr. Igini of being biased and compromised by the Peoples Democratic Party and had called for his redeployment before the elections were conducted.
But, CDHR in a communique signed by its state chairman, Comrade Pius Philip Ntuen, at the end of a one-day enlarged branch coordinating council meeting said from independent investigations, the allegations were unfounded and baseless.
The communique reads in parts, “it is quite unfortunate the massive deployment of smear campaigns and spiteful comments by political parties and their agents in an attempt to tear down the character, smear the image and vilify the integrity of electoral umpires, security institutions, observer and monitoring groups all in a bid to discredit the just concluded electoral process in Akwa Ibom State.
“Particularly, the Council noted the various spiteful attacks on the character and personality of the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr. Mike Igini, by the leadership and prominent members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State and stressed that independent findings on the allegations indicate that the issues of bias, impartiality and compromise leveled against Mr. Igini are unfounded, false, misleading, contemptuous, unkind and undemocratic.
“More so, following a review of the conduct and activities of INEC in Akwa Ibom State led by Mr. Mike Igini and his well-known antecedents, CDHR is strongly persuaded that Mr. Igini acted in clear conscience and discharged his obligations professionally with transparent honesty and robust integrity. CDHR, therefore, invites the public to discountenance all contrary claims and insinuations as they are self-serving and politically motivated”..
The group also said it had observed the level of desperation for political offices among members of the political class in Nigeria noting that such was anti-democratic and cannot aid the nation’s growth..
The human rights defenders maintained that since human rights are better protected and guaranteed in a democratic system; political parties, the electorate, security agencies, electoral umpires and rights groups must unite in a common purpose to ensure that anti-democratic persons and interests do not compromise leadership selection processes to either impose themselves or cronies on political leadership stools and positions.
