Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has raised the alarm again over intensified plot to kick the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood out of office.
The CUPP spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, said the plotters intend to get Mahmood out of the way by either forcing him to resign or getting him arrested on trumped-up charges.
The coalition submitted that those behind the plot are uncomfortable with the INEC Chairman’s determination to ensure a credible election.
The CUPP noted that the INEC Chairman’s insistence on the use of BVAS for the February elections, the publication of the voters’ register particularly on the website of the Commission, and the call for observations and objections from Nigerians in the cleanup of the register following the ‘Omuma magic expose’, all point to the fact that the INEC Chairman was working to ensure transparent and credible February polls.
The opposition coalition stated that the plan is to remove the INEC Chairman, who is currently on official assignment outside the country, once he is back.
CUPP also alleged that the All Progressives Congress has harvested bank accounts of 10 million voters with the aim of engaging in digital vote-buying.
According to the coalition, the ruling party resorted to the move following the announcement of the decision to redesign naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“They are hiding their fraudulent intent by insisting that the publication of the voters register by the INEC is illegal and goes beyond the Electoral Act.
“CUPP further states that despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s words that there were no such moves, the move was still alive and kicking more than ever now.
CUPP warned well-meaning Nigerians, the courts and security agencies to resist this plot from those who only want to undermine the proposed credible elections by arresting and removing the INEC chair on fraudulent claims.
“It is for this purpose that the Nigerian opposition and indeed all Nigerian citizens of goodwill have resolved that we shall resist and reject any form of arrest of the INEC Chairman when he returns to the country.
“We shall also vehemently resist and reject every form of resignation from office by the INEC Chairman either forced or otherwise or any other form or method of removal from office as the Omuma Magic initiators now speak more boastfully and assuredly than before.
“We therefore call on any Federal High Court judge before whom any form of application seeking the removal of the INEC Chairman from office is pending to remit such files back to the Chief Judge of the Federal high Court and not grant such order. We further call on the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to also formally place this same demand before all judges of the Federal High Court. We believe we have warned against this for the last time and shall not have need to address it again”, the statement read.
