President Muhammadu Buhari has denied sharing family affinity with embattled Amina Zakari, a commissioner representing Jigawa State at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, yesterday said: “President Buhari and Commissioner Amina Zakari don’t share a family relationship.
“An inter-marriage occurred in their extended families, so the imputation of blood relationship between the President and the electoral commissioner is a simple lie.”
Shehu said Zakari was appointed electoral commissioner in INEC by the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration on merit, accusing the opposition of “harassing an innocent citizen on the basis of a lie.”
The statement added: “In another mendacious press release, the PDP has continued their baseless accusations regarding Zakari, accusing her of partiality and casting doubts about her integrity as an electoral commissioner.
“In their desperation, they 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 Buhari.
“President Buhari and Zakari don’t share a family relationship. An inter-marriage occurred in their extended families, so the imputation of blood relationship between the President and the electoral commissioner is a simple lie.
“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 own merit and made her an electoral commissioner.
“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.
“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.”
