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Amina Zakari, a national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC), has finally reacted to talks about her relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The PDP, the Inter-Party Advisory Council and several other opposition parties had variously called on INEC to remove Zakari as the chairperson of the Committee on National Collation Centre.

INEC had on Thursday announced Zakari to chair the Committee on National Collation Centre.

She is believed to be related to Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

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But Zakari, who was a former acting Chairman of INEC, in an interview with the BBC, said she had also served as a special adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

She further stated that she was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as an INEC commissioner and that she had done her job diligently in the last eight years.

Zakari added, “I’m not his niece, I am not his cousin; and, on this job, I was appointed since 2010 by President Jonathan and prior to that, I was appointed as SA to President Obasanjo and I have done my work conscientiously over the years as a patriotic citizen of Nigeria.

“I don’t think I should be distracted now that elections are coming. I will continue doing my work, I will continue to serve my country to the best of my ability, with the best of intentions.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is my president as everybody else’s president.

“He is not my cousin, he is not my uncle as is being claimed; but I know him as my leader and the leader of the nation.”

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