Khan: I’m Still in Charge of INEC in Rivers
She was never detained by DSS, says APC
Ernest Chinwo The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila Khan, has stated that she was still in charge of the commission in the state.
Khan stated this yesterday in Port Harcourt while addressing journalists against the backdrop of statements that she had been redeployed because of the alleged role she played in the last general elections in the state.
She acknowledged that the INEC headquarters had sent three administrative secretaries to the state and that the secretaries were to assist her in making materials available to parties that would require them at the on-going elections tribunal.
According to her, “During the presidential election, three national commissioners came; during the governorship election, three national commissioners also came and now, we have three administrative secretaries. That is just to make the job faster, couple with the fact that tribunals are timebound and the work (sorting our election materials) is voluminous.
“The INEC head office in Abuja decided to draft three administrative secretaries to support us so that we can meet up with the time. We should conclude this exercise (inspection of election materials) before the tribunal comes to an end. We are human beings, and if you are told to produce 1,000 copies today, will you produce it? Sometime, even machines break down let alone man.”
Stressing on the issue of her purported transfer, Khan said: “I am here and I am still here. I have not been transferred. If I have been transferred, I should not be sitting here; I should be packing my things. Even if I am transferred, there is nothing wrong with that because this is government work and anytime you are called to move, you move. But for now, I have not been called to move.”
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has stated that Khan was a victim of her own devices, adding that she was never detained by the Directorate of State Security (DSS) as she allegedly claimed.
A statement issued yesterday by the Secretary, Media and Publicity Committee of the APC, Godstime Orlukwu, said the APC believed that claims by Khan that she was detained were false.
The statement read in part: “The APC believes that Khan was never detained. Rather, the DSS invited her for questioning having been convinced that her actions and deliberate inactions constituted serious threat to the security of the state and, by extension, that of the country.