President Buhari vows not to interfere with INEC operations

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, swore in the new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and five commissioners with an assurance that he would not interfere with the work of the commission.

Performing the ceremony in the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, he warned the new appointees not to subject themselves to the influences of outside forces, as he asserted that the change promised by his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), must be all embracing.

He said: "I hereby acknowledge and pledge to respect the independence of the commission and this government will not interfere with its operations.

"For your part, you should not allow yourselves to be unduly influenced or subject yourself to the control of outside forces. You must respect the law and we will hold you bound by the oath which you have just taken. The nation has reposed a lot of trust and confidence in you. You cannot afford to fail."

While recalled that the ruling party promised to encourage them to conduct transparent elections, he added: "The APC government has promised Nigerians change. In electioneering, this change should be all-embracing. It starts from change of attitudes, change of work ethics, change in attitude to corruption and corrupt practices, change of party political conduct-right from primaries to the emergence of candidates and finally the conduct of elections.

"​In the conduct of elections, we promised to respect the independence of our electoral body, INEC. We promised non-interference in its activities and above all we promised to encourage them to conduct transparently free and fair elections. I hereby pledge to keep that promise."

The president expressed worries over the conduct of elections by state governments where their electoral bodies often declared the respective ruling parties winners of all he seats contested.

He observed that the situation had always called to question the integrity of those elected in such elections.

Sworn in at the ceremony were Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman; Mrs. Amina Zakari, Mr. Solomon Adedeji Soyebi, Professor Antonia Taiye Okoosi-Simbine, Dr. Muhammed Mustafa Lecky and Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo, as commissioners.

Credit: Nigerian Tribune