The Unified Nigerian Youth Forum (UNYF) has condemned what it described as “unpatriotic call” for the investigation and removal of Prof Mahmood Yakubu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking on behalf of the group at a press conference on Friday at the Arewa House in Kaduna, UNYF President Comrade Abdulsalam Moh’d Kazeem passed a vote of confidence on the INEC chairman and his team, describing them for as “worthy ambassadors of our nation”.
He said some people are not happy with the strides recorded by the INEC chairman, especially deploying cutting edge technology such as Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for credible, fair and transparent elections as well as voter mobilisation and enlightenment.
“It is in public domain, the activities of certain group of persons purporting to be promoting the interest of the north and Nigeria, but sadly working for the enemies of the nation, these persons have continued to falsely accuse and demand the resignation and sack of the INEC boss for carrying out his mandate.
“Those behind this charade are nothing but paid agents and goons of selfish and unpatriotic politicians seeking to manipulate next year’s general elections at all cost,” Kazeem said.
Speaking further, he said “We dispell in strong terms the rumours making rounds that the INEC boss and his management team have morally compromised because of pressure from political parties to deactivate BVAS.
“For the record, please note that; BVAS and all the electoral reforms currently in place have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC majority National Assembly.
“It is inconceivable to say that the APC or any political party is pressuring INEC. It is again not true that INEC and indeed Prof. Mahmood Yakubu have been pressured by anybody to deactivate or stop the use of the BVAS they introduced in fulfilment of the president’s promise of delivering a transparent election.
“INEC is established by law and has a law guiding its activities. No individual can wake up and decide to deactivate the use of BVAS when the law says it should be deployed.
“Those who make allegations like this are out to tarnish the reputation of the Independent National Electoral Commission and that of its indefatigable Chairman.
“Nigerians must not fall to such antics especially now that the general elections are at hand, Politicians are jittery and will do/say anything to make noise.”
The UNYF also said the allegations that the INEC boss has denied some people in North West and North Central an extended time foe voter registration as a result of the network shutdown for special military operations are false and misleading.
“The issue of voter registration by INEC is centrally controlled and it is impossible to open the portal for only a particular region. INEC at the behest of Nigerians and the National Assembly extended voter registration severally to enable all Nigerians to register and exercise thier franchise.
“Besides, the exercise is continuous and repetitive, so how come certain persons are grumbling when INEC opened the portal severally after the era of telecommunication shutdown?
“We are equally worried and concerned with the barefaced lie in some quarters that 15,000 foreigners were registered in September alone in the Ward of the current Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma.
“Nothing can be more misleading and dishonest than this claim especially now that INEC has recently sanitized the voter register with more than 2 million double registrants expunged.
“The allegations of ghost voters, registration of foreigners and preloaded fake accreditation as insinuated by mischief makers is unintelligent, shallow and unfounded. How did the foreigners gain entry into the country without detection by the Nigerian Immigration Services/ state security services?
“Does Imo State share border with any foreign country? How will those fake preloaded accredited electorate cast their votes or will they be giving ballots in polling stations without on-site accreditation? This is laughable and should be disregarded.”
The group commended Mr. President and the APC controlled National Assembly for massively supporting reforms in the electoral body to ensure transparent, credible and fair elections.
“Unlike the unfounded fears expressed in some quarters, the APC government has demonstrated in recent time guinuene committed to a transparent and credible process for Nigerians,” he said.
Hence, Nigerians should therefore, commend and support INEC towards discharging their mandate next year without paying attention to naysayers who are out to destabilize the country with their concocted lies.
