Three out of the nine resident electoral commissioners (RECs) sworn in by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday are loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The nine RECs are Abubakar Dambo Sarkin Pawa (Kebbi State), Abubakar Ma’aji Ahmed (Borno State), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha (Edo State), Ehimeakhe Shaka Isah (Akwa Ibom State) and Aminu Idris (Kaduna State).

Others are Mohammed Sadiq Abubakar (Kwara State), Barr. Oluwatoyin Babalola (Ondo State); Olubunmi Omoseyindemi (Ekiti State) and Shehu Wahab (Nasarawa State).

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A report published by FIJ and dated November 20 revealed that the Social-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and 34 accountability groups filed an action against the appointment of four members of the ruling party as top INEC officials.

Ehimeakhe, Onuoha and Omoseyindemi were among the four names identified by the accountability groups as APC loyalists. The groups challenged the political partisanship of the four after President Bola Tinubu forwarded their names to the Senate for confirmation in October.

President Tinubu had nominated ten RECs, including Etekamba Umoren, in October. At the swearing-in ceremony of the nine RECs in Abuja, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, had said, “The tenth REC-designate will be sworn in next month on the expiry of the tenure of the REC representing Akwa Ibom State currently deployed to Delta State.”

Following the nomination in October, FIJ found that Umoren showed a partisan bias towards the ruling party and Senate President Godswill Akpabio multiple times.

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In addition to Umoren’s party activities, FIJ also found that he, alongside the Senate President and Udo Isobara, the former Accountant General of Akwa Ibom, was accused of embezzling N22 billion at the end of Akpabio’s tenure as governor in 2015.