Politics

I’m Not Buhari’s Relation, Amina Zakari (pic)

The newly appointed head of election collation centre for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2019 elections, Mrs. Amina Zakari has denied having a consanguinity relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Her appointment has generated myriads of criticisms and arguments from opposition’s political parties, Nigerians and Presidency.

Zakari is a princess of Jigawa State. She was born on June 23, 1960 to the late Emir of Kazaure, Hussaini Adamu.

She completed her elementary education at Shekara Girls Primary School, Kano in 1971 and had her secondary education at Queens College, Lagos.

Amina Bala Zakari was the former Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Her appointment took effect from the directive of the President Muhammadu Buhari following the expiration of the tenure of her predecessor, Attahiru Jega on July 30, 2015.

However, since her appointment, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has delved into captious publications, insisting that she has a blood relationship with Buhari.

Presidency yesterday refuted the allegation and noted that Buhari and Zakari do not share a family relationship. In a statement disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Presidency averred that “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”.

Suffixing on Presidency postulations, Zakari in an interview with BBC News Igbo distanced herself from the niggling allegation that she is bloodily related to Buhari.

Her words, “I am not his niece, I am not his cousin. I was appointed on this same particular job by Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010. Prior to that I was appointed an A.S to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, and I did my job perfectly”.

Extracts of the interview below:

Amina Zakari: “I’m not his niece, I’m not his cousin and on this job I’ve been appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan since 2010 and prior to that I was SA to President Obasanjo and I’ve done my work conscientiously over the years as a patriotic citizen of Nigeria and I don’t think I should be distracted now that elections are coming.

BBC But what exactly is your relationship with President Buhari?

Amina Zakari President Buhari is my president, as everybody else’s president. He’s not my uncle. He’s not my cousin, as is being claimed. That’s all I can say.

I’ve been on this job since 2010 and this same president lost an election. The people that are complaining have worked closely with me. They have not in any way accused me of any wrong doing over the years.

I have done my work diligently over the years. I was in charge of political party monitoring for 4 years, from 2010 to 2014. There was not a single scandal to my name and nobody can claim to have paid me or asked me to do anything wrong. And if they have, I would love them to come forward and prove it to the nation and to the world at large.

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