THE Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Gesila Khan, has said she is still in charge as the state REC and has not been transferred.
Khan was reacting to claims in some quarters that she had been transferred by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The state REC, who was alleged to have been arrested and detained by operatives of the Department of State Services spoke with journalists on Monday at the state INEC office, Port Harcourt during the ongoing inspection and certification of materials used for the 2015 polls.
Khan maintained that she would not have been part of the ongoing exercise at the state INEC office if she had been transferred as speculated.
“I am here and I am still here. I have not been transferred. If I have been transferred, I should not be sitting here; I should be picking my things. Even if I am transferred, there is nothing wrong with that because it is government work and anytime you are called to move, you move. But for now, I have not been called to move,” she stressed.
On whether she has any regret as a result of her experience so far in Rivers State, the REC said, “I have no regret whatsoever. I am an Human Resources practitioner, so, anything you see in life, you move along with it. You cannot predict man. They are free to think and say what they want.”
She, however, pointed out that the photocopying of election materials and certification of documents were going on without any hitch.
Explaining that INEC headquarters crafted three administrative secretaries to assist in the exercise, Khan noted that this was necessary in order not to delay the submission of required materials to the election tribunal.
“During the presidential election, three national commissioners came; during the governorship election, three national commissioners came and now again, we have three administrative secretaries. That is just to make the job fast and you know the tribunals are time-bound and the work (sorting our election materials) is voluminous.
“We have been working since. Today, it is either this document or another. Some they want in long hand while some they want it in short hand. So, the law says when they request, you give them and since the time is very short, we have to,” she said.
Meanwhile, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, has disagreed with the State Electoral Commissioner that she was detained by the DSS for two weeks.
The state APC said the DSS invited Khan for questioning, alleging that her actions and inactions constituted a security threat to the state and the country at large.
Describing Khan as a victim of her own devices, the state APC in a statement signed by its Secretary, Media and Publicity Committee, Mr. Godstime Orlukwu, said her alleged earlier refusal to release materials used during the last election was capable of affecting the peace of the state.
