Opposition Parties Warn against Alleged Plan to Remove INEC Chair over Use of BVAS

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has warned against alleged moves by some senators loyal to some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, to ensure the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, ahead of the 2023 general election.

CUPP in a statement issued by its spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, said the plan as reported in a national daily that politicians were moving against Yakubu over INEC insistence on using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the 2023 elections, will be vehemently resisted by the opposition parties and civil society organisations.

Ugochinyere, while recalling that the coalition last month uncovered the conspiracy through reliable intelligence, said the conspiracy to use the Senate to jiggle Yakubu so that he could jettison use of BVAS would lead to an electoral crisis.

According to him, “INEC chairman at different fora had reiterated that the commission would ensure a free and fair election, and the only way to do that is through the use of BVAS and e-transmission of election results. CUPP last month at a joint press conference in Abuja made it known to Nigerians of the intercepted intelligence of a fresh plot against the 2023 elections, and this time being coordinated by leading figures of the ruling APC governors led by a South-east APC governor with controversial past and another from the Northwest who are working with their colleagues to perfect a plot to intimidate INEC leadership.

“Though it’s not surprising, it’s really sad that the parliament which is the last hope of the common man is actually considering going ahead with this evil plot just because the APC is scared of losing the election in 2023.” 

“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call his governors and lawmakers to order so that they don’t truncate Nigerian democracy under his watch.”