The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) said it has uncovered plot to derail the 2023 general election.
The Coalition also revealed plot to scuttle the ongoing electoral Act amendment at the National Assembly.
Addressing newsmen Wednesday, the spokesman of CUPP and Chairman of Action Peoples Party (APP), Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere alleged that there would be no electronic transmission of results or the Electoral Act, as the amendment process will not be completed in good time for the President to accent to it for use during the 2023 elections.
He said: “The information at our disposal includes the alleged late night exchange of ‘incentives’ to most of the National Assembly members in the Harmonization Committee to see to it that the electronic transmission of results does not see the light of the day.
“This is an insult on the sensibilities and sensitivities of the Nigerian people noting that this process of Electoral Act amendment commenced since 2016 and has not been completed 5 years after.”
He said the APC National Assembly members “have agreed to drag this process and get up to their next year’s annual vacation by which time, whereupon a claim that by the ECOWAS treaty electoral laws cannot be amended less than six months to elections, the process will terminate like they did for the 2019 election but this time with possibility of throwing the country into constitutional crisis.”
Ugochinyere therefore declared that Nigerians want electronic transmission of results, adding, “INEC is ready for it and has accepted it has capacity for it and the position is immutable.”
The CUPP spokesman warned that Nigerians will resist any attempt to rob the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of its constitutionally guaranteed independence by way of subjecting any of their activities to the political whims and caprices of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The CUPP also warned that history and humanity will judge if the National Assembly “doctor the Electoral Act amendment process and remove the electronic transmission of results or if they refuse to complete this process within a reasonable time.”
Lamenting the economic situation of the country, the CUPP queried why the government was not seeing the danger in borrowing when more than 98% of the country’s revenue was already being used to service debts.
The Coalition also stated that the country was now running on what they called ‘Molue Economy,’ which is 44 sitting and 99 standing, insisting that the country’s debts had increased by 366% since 2015.
“Nigeria now spends more on debt servicing than on health and education combined. Due to incompetence of the President, there has been an actual decline in the country’s revenue.
“In 2020, the total revenue of government was just about N3.4 Trillion despite all the increases in the prices and cost of every government service whereas in 2015, total revenue of government was N5.43 Trillion,” noting that oil prices were higher in 2020 than it was in 2015 yet revenue was declining.
The CUPP argued that every economic index in the country were currently worse than they were in 2015, insisting it was due to the incompetence of the President.
The Coalition berated the members of the National Assembly for still continuing to approve more borrowings for the President even in the face of the current realities of the unsustainability of the borrowing profile, alleging that there was no credible repayment plan.
The CUPP lamented that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to protect the lives and property of Nigerian citizens, adding that “life was now so cheap in Nigeria that leaders do not even show empathy anymore and the people are becoming unfeeling since wanton killings has become the order of the day and every new death is taken for granted.
