From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Criticisms against the Chairman,Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has continued as the Arewa Citizens’ Watch for Good Governance (ACWGG) has petitioned the National Assembly, European Union, United State Embassy and British High Commission in Nigeria, among others, over alleged plot to compromise the 2023 polls.
The group, in a petition dated October 18 alleged that the INEC boss and his team have compromised the voters register, inflated votes in southern Nigeria and suppressed same in the north. Accordingly, it called for change of leadership in the commission.
The petition signed by its Chairman, Muhammed Adamu also sought for the suspension of the INEC boss to pave way for an independent umpire even as it called on President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend next year’s general elections.
“The Arewa Citizens Watch for Good Governance, a network of numerous pressure groups in northern part of Nigeria is aware of the allegations against the INEC chairman and his team, wherein, they have been accused by Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) of committing electoral treason in the recently concluded, even though, controversial continuous voters registration.
“On 15th of September, 2022 one Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere Michael, the spokesperson of the CUPP addressed a world press titled “Omuma magic” wherein he alleged that 15,000 foreign names were registered in the rural village of the Governor of Imo State.
The group further alleged that this criminal electoral treason was carried out in over 18 states that would help generate 10million fake votes using preloaded fake accreditation.
It further alleged that scanned passports photos and burial pictures were used to register voters in most local government areas in Imo State. He queried how people had access to INEC system to enable them scan and upload passports.
“While INEC was busy scanning passports and burial pictures and inventing biometrics for voters registration in southern part of the country, they however rejected the pleas of our sister groups to give special consideration in our region, following the shutting down of telecommunications networks that led to suspension of the CVR for four weeks. All the allegations levelled against the commission are yet to be falsified, neither has the commission compensated the northern region for the time lost during the CVR.
“We are worried that, the election umpires are morally compromised to deliver on the onerous task, which holds the key to our national unity and stability. We are afraid that the outcome of the 2023 election won’t be acceptable by all Nigerians, due to the negative perception most Nigerians holds against the commission.”
The group demanded that “the buck stops on the INEC Chairman’s office, hence, the weighty allegation of “criminal electoral treason” levelled against him by CUPP must not be set aside, therefore, relevant government agencies must arrest and prosecute Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for trying to use his office to effect leadership change in our country in a satanic manner.
“For the interest of peace and national cohesion, President Muhammadu Buhari should suspend all process leading to 2023 general elections, until the mystery behind the synthetic and invented names in our voters register is unravelled.”