The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), has warned against alleged move by some senators loyal to some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, plotting 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 Sunday in Abuja by its spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, recalled that the opposition coalition, last month, uncovered this conspiracy through a reliable intelligence.
According to the statement, the report Saturday Sun that politicians were moving against Yakubu over INEC’s insistence on using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in next year’s general elections, has confirmed our intelligence discovery.
Ugochinyere said that the conspiracy to use the Senate to shake Yakubu so that he could jettison the use of BVAS will lead to electoral crisis and will be vehemently resisted by the opposition parties and CSOs.
“INEC Chairman at different fora had reiterated that the Commission will 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 in a joint press conference in Abuja made Nigerians know of the intercepted intelligence of a fresh plot against the 2023 election and this time being coordinated by leading figures of the ruling APC Party, APC Governors led by a South East APC Governor with controversial past and another from the North West 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 to go ahead with this evil plot, just because the APC is scared of loosing election come 2023. We therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call his governors and lawmakers to order so that they don’t truncate the nation’s democracy under his watch. Any further actions in this direction will be playing with fire and a direct affront and challenge to Nigerian voters. We have already gone to the USA, UK, and other foreign embassies to submit petitions and alert them of the alleged new conspiracy. We repeat! any plan to remove Prof. Mahmud Yakubu and top officials of INEC will not be accepted.” the statement concluded.
