The spokesperson for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council for Nigeria’s 2023 general election, Kenneth Okonkwo, has made a claim that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has sacked the resident electoral commissioners (RECs) for Sokoto and Abia States.
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Okonkwo made the claim in a post he tweeted via his Twitter handle @realkenokonkwo on March 7, 2023, with a caption thus:
”Mahmood INEC has sacked Sokoto and Abia RECs where they said PDP and LP won for breaches of the law. Can someone tell me what Mahmood is waiting for before sacking himself and the Lagos and Rivers RECs where APC and INEC officials openly stole? Nigerians must insist on their sack.”
The post has since generated over 4,500 retweets, more than 9,000 likes and has been viewed by over 300,000 Twitter users as of March 12, 2023.
Another tweep, @GRVLagoFans, also tweeted same claim thus:
“Mahmood INEC has sacked Sokoto and Abia RECs where they said PDP and LP won for breaches of the law. Can someone tell me what Mahmood is waiting for before sacking himself and the Lagos and Rivers RECs where APC and INEC officials openly stole? Nigerians must insist on their sack.”
The Leadership newspaper also published the report of the purported sack of Sokoto and Abia RECs.
CLAIM
INEC has sacked Sokoto and Abia RECs for breaches of law.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
The FactCheckHub reached out via WhatsApp to INEC’s National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, to verify the claim.
“INEC does not have the power to sack or dismiss a Resident Electoral Commissioner as they can only be relieved of their appointment through the instrumentality of the National Assembly and the President,” he said in a terse response.
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Further checks also revealed that the Independent National Electoral Commission Decree of 1998 states that the Resident Electoral Commissioner appointed may be removed by the Head of State or Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
THE VERDICT
The claim that INEC has sacked Sokoto and Abia RECs for breaches of law is FALSE; as findings show that INEC lacks the power to sack its Resident Electoral Commissioners.
