The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State – Mr. Mike Igini – has come under a blitzkrieg of fire for alleged bias in the manner he has treated issues relating to the primaries conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom state.

The party specifically accused him of choosing and picking which primaries to attend as observer as required by law.

A trove of documents seen by our reporter showed a pattern of stonewalling and negligence by Igini in some instances as regards the conduct of primaries by the party in the state, prompting the leadership of the party to report Igini to both the Commission and the Presidency.

Following the complaints from the party to INEC headquarters accusing Igini of flouting court order by not according recognition to Obong Stephen Leo Ntukekpo as the Chairman of the APC in Akwa Ibom, INEC head office in what appears as a query and a rebuke dated June 21, 2022 and signed by Rose Orarian-Anthony, Secretary to the Commission, drew Igini’s attention to a subsisting court judgment.

The letter reads: “This is to formally draw your attention to the subsisting judgement/order of the Federal High Court, Abuja (Suit No.FCH/ABJ/CS/1635/2021) which recognized Hon. Obong Stephen Ntukekpo as the Chairman of the APC in Akwa Ibom state.

“The Commission is to comply with the content of the judgement, please.”

Akwa Ibom APC is accusing Igini of open bias by recognizing purported primaries held without the approval of the party while ignoring the outcome of the primaries legitimately held at the party’s instance.

According to the state APC which accused Igini of being partial, unprofessional and undemocratic in his conduct, the continued stay of Igini as INEC REC in Akwa Ibom is a threat to democracy.

Following its frustrations, the party, through its National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, fired a petition, dated July 1, 2022,  to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation against Igini, seeking the intervention of the SGF through INEC chairman in resolving the matter.

The APC had re-conducted its primaries after the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party reviewed  police report which revealed irregularities in the earlier primaries. A notice to that effect was conveyed in a letter dated June 7, 2022 and addressed to the State Chairman of APC. The letter was signed by Senator Omisore, the party’s National Secretary.

The letter reads: “The National Working Committee (NWC) after reviewing the report of the Police on the just-concluded Primary Elections in the state, has approved Thursday 9^th June, 2022 to re-conduct the exercise for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.

The re-conducted primary for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District was said to have been ignored by Igini. The party said Igini had no choice but to accept the outcome of the re-conducted primaries because it was done within the time limit allowed by law.

The non-recognition of the re-conducted primaries for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District denied Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was the winner of the re-conducted primaries, the Senatorial ticket of the party.

It would be recalled that INEC had on July 9, 2022 said it had put its final seal of approval on the May 27, 2022 primaries, which produced a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Udom Ekpoudom, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district. The INEC position thus set aside the candidacy of Akpabio.

Igini had earlier recognised the candidacy of Ekpoudom because, according to him,  his “election at the primaries was not cancelled, neither was it rendered inconclusive.” Igini had also described Akpabio’s emergence as nothing but a “Nollywood fantasy.”

As if to give legal vent to Igini’s position, INEC in the July 9 statement said: “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to speculations circulating online on the outcome of some of the recent primaries conducted by political parties and related issues. In particular, allegations intended to impugn the integrity of the Commission have been made in respect of the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts.

“To set the record straight, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria mandates the Commission to monitor the organization and operation of political parties, including their finances, conventions, congresses and party primaries.

“ In line with its constitutional and legal obligations, the Commission deployed monitors to the various constituencies and received reports of such exercise. In relation to the primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts, the Commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our State offices.

“For this reason, the Commission did not publish the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies at variance with the State reports. Right now, the Commission is funtus officio in the two cases. Aggrieved parties are at liberty to approach the Federal High Court and seek redress as provided in section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and sections 29(5) and 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

But Akwa Ibom APC officials argue that it was wrong for INEC to lump the matter of Yobe North Senatorial Districts (involving Senate President Ahmad Lawan) and that of Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, insisting that the circumstances are not the same for both cases.

Relying on the chronology of events that led to the re-conducted primaries, Akwa Ibom APC asserts that everything done leading up to the exercise of the re-conducted primaries, including filling and filing of the form, fell within the ambit of the law.

While the party is looking to the court for redress in accordance with section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and sections 29(5) and 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022, it is asking INEC to dismiss Igini “because he poses a clear and present danger to democracy.”

The party also accused Igini of contempt when he dismissed the judgement of a court of competent jurisdiction as a fraudulent, kangaroo judgement. On this, the party said it would be asking the court to commit Igini to jail for contempt as a “fitting retirement benefit.”

The party said the action and utterances of Igini expose him and INEC as biased. The party admitted that Akpabio contested the Presidential election primaries but that the law permits him or any other person to contest for another position within the same party for as long as it was done within the time frame allowed by law.