Buhari, INEC Commissioner Amina Zakari don’t relate – Presidency

…Says PDP is clutching at straws In reaction to allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that INEC commissioner, Amina Zakari, is a niece of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidency has refuted the allegations as baseless, adding that the President and Mrs. Zakari don’t share family relationship. Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Friday, stated that the PDP “in their desperation, forget that it was the PDP government that appointed her in the first place and they keep lying, as they have been caught doing on so many issues, by imputing a blood relationship between her and President Muhammadu Buhari.” Shehu explained that President Buhari and Commissioner Amina Zakari don’t share a family relationship, adding that an inter-marriage occurred in their extended families. He said that the imputation of blood relationship between the President and the electoral commissioner “is a simple lie.” “The PDP has continued their baseless accusations regarding Hajiya Amina Zakari, a commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), accusing her of partiality and casting doubts about her integrity as an electoral commissioner. “What is even more curious about all the fuss coming from the PDP is that they, as a ruling party picked Mrs. Zakari, judging her by her own merit. “She served so well with distinction as can be verified from the records that President Buhari approved the recommendation that she be reappointed, as he did other PDP nominees for second-term of four years. “PDP, therefore, has no moral right to keep harassing this hardworking mother unless they have a hidden agenda,” the presidential aide stated. Shehu stressed that by this statement, “the PDP is guilty of scoring an own goal and two, of harassing an innocent citizen on the basis of a lie, pure and simple.” Mathew Dadiya, Abuja