I am still in charge

The Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ayoka Adebayo came out of a 20 minutes meeting with Maurice Iwu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday afternoon in Abuja and declared herself as the Bona Fide Ekiti REC.

This act reverses her earlier move, when she resigned stating that her "conscience as a Christian cannot allow me to further participate in the process."

Four hours after her resignation on Tuesday, Mr. Iwu, Mike Okiro, the Inspector General of Police; and Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information; addressed a press conference in Abuja at which they declared her wanted.

Mrs. Adebayo had arrived the commission's headquarters at 2:07pm accompanied by two lawyers, two aides and her son Wole Adebayo. Her lawyers were however barred from attending the meeting, which commenced at 2:55pm; this initially made Mrs. Ayoka puzzled. Her son was later invited to the meeting by INEC's Commissioner on Legal matters, Victor Chukwuani.

After the meeting, Mrs. Ayoka told journalists: "I am still a member of the INEC family." She said she still remained the Ekiti electoral commissioner but declined to comment on whether the resignation letter was from her and why she resigned. She also declined comment on when the election in Oye local council will hold.

She drove out in an ash coloured Mercedez Benz SUV and is believed to have headed for another meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Okiro.

Mrs. Adebayo had been declared wanted yesterday evening by Mr. Okiro and was given 24hours to report to any police station. She became a fugitive after her resignation through a letter addressed to President Umar Musa Yar'adua and copied to Mr. Iwu.

Mrs. Adebayo supervised the re-run gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State and is believed to have been pressured to wrongly announce one of the candidates as the winner of the election.