A member of President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Segun Showunmi, has defended the redeployment of his wife, Oluyemi Adeyemi-Showunmi, to head the Electoral Operations Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Showunmi dismissed suggestions that his involvement in Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign influenced the decision.
He insisted that his wife’s posting was an internal administrative matter and challenged those questioning it to consider her career record and professional integrity.
The APC campaign council member spoke during an appearance on Channels Television, where he reacted angrily after an anchor questioned whether his wife’s new position was a reward for his political activities.
The controversy followed INEC’s redeployment of Oluyemi, who previously served as the commission’s Administrative Secretary in Lagos State, to head Electoral Operations at its national headquarters ahead of the 2027 general elections.
As part of the reshuffle, Isah Magaji Gummi, the former head of Electoral Operations, was moved to the Voter Registry Department, while Oluyemi was assigned to take charge of Electoral Operations.
Responding to questions about a possible connection between his political affiliation and his wife’s posting, Showunmi described her as a senior career officer who had spent her professional life working with INEC.
“That’s a civil servant you are talking about there. She’s a level 17 officer,” he said.
He explained that his wife joined INEC after completing her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) assignment in Maiduguri and had remained with the commission throughout her career.
According to him, her redeployment was an internal decision that did not involve him or his political activities.
“Up till this posting, which comes within their own organisation and has nothing to do with anybody, I’m not even sure the President knows,” Showunmi said.
He also recalled that his wife served as INEC’s Administrative Secretary in Lagos State until her latest redeployment.
Defending her record, Showunmi cited the 2023 presidential election in Lagos, where Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s candidate at the time, secured substantial support.
“And they did an election there and Peter Obi have got the numbers, did they stop him from getting the numbers?” he asked.
He argued that the scrutiny surrounding his wife’s posting was unfair and made it unnecessarily difficult for public officials and their families to live without suspicion.
“You guys are making this whole country just too difficult for people to live in,” he said.
Showunmi maintained that the redeployment was a routine administrative decision, comparable to postings involving other public servants.
He also vouched for his wife’s integrity, arguing that her professional conduct should not be questioned because of his political affiliations.
“And I guarantee you, you have never seen anybody that has more integrity than her,” he said.
To support his position, Showunmi recounted an incident from 2019, when he contested a House of Representatives election.
He said he had spent money preparing for the election before it was postponed. According to him, his wife knew about the postponement but did not inform him beforehand because doing so would have given him an unfair advantage over other candidates.
Showunmi said his wife later explained that she could not provide him with information that would put him ahead of his opponents.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he recalled asking her, adding that she explained that doing so would give him an unfair advantage.
He said the incident strengthened his confidence in her commitment to electoral integrity and professional ethics.
Showunmi also cited his wife’s family background, describing her as the daughter of a presbyter and the younger sister of a senior judge. He argued that integrity was a central value in her upbringing.
“We are not from that type of place where we mess about. Integrity is what we put on the table and that’s what you are getting there,” he said.
Rejecting the suggestion that his political connections had influenced the redeployment, Showunmi questioned why his membership of the APC campaign council should automatically raise concerns about his wife’s career.
“Don’t you dare say that about me or say, reward who? Reward who?” he said.
He further argued that the President did not necessarily have to be involved in every administrative decision concerning people connected to political figures.
Showunmi further cited National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu’s family connection to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar through marriage, questioning whether such a relationship should automatically cast doubt on Ribadu’s professional responsibilities.
“Is Nuhu Ribadu not an in-law to Atiku? The fact that the in-law of the son is married to Atiku’s daughter, does that mean he will not do his job?” he asked.
