By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A Northern group under the auspices, Unified Nigerian Youth Forum (UNYF), has dispelled in strong terms the rumours making the rounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Boss, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his management team have morally compromised, following pressure from political parties to deactivate the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
The group explained that BVAS and all the electoral reforms currently in place have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly, saying, “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. Yakubu Mahmood 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.”
Briefing newsmen on Friday in Kaduna, Comrade Abdulsalam Moh’d Kazeem, UNYF President opined that those who make allegations like this are out to tarnish the reputation of the Independent National Electoral Commission and that of its indefatigable Chairman, advising Nigerians not to fall to such antics now that the general elections is at hand while politicians are jittery and will do/say anything to make noise.
According to the group, “Despite the giant strides recorded by the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, especially in the area of deploying cutting edge technology such as Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for credible, fair and transparent elections as well as voter mobilisation and enlightenment, some persons have continued to falsely accused and demand the resignation and sack of the INEC Boss for carrying out his mandate.”
He opined that those behind this charade are nothing but paid agents and goons of selfish and unpatriotic politicians seeking to manipulate next years general elections at all cost.
According to Abdulsalam Moh’d Kazeem, the allegations that INEC acted in a morally compromised way and denied some persons from the north west and north central an extended period of voter registration as a result of the network shutdown for special military operations is false and misleading, believing that 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?” he asked.
The UNYF President equally expressed worried and concerned with what he called “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, saying that nothing can be more misleading and dishonest than the claim especially now that INEC has recently sanitized the voter register with more than 2 million double registrants expunged.
He explained that the allegations of ghost voters, registration of foreigners and preloaded fake accreditation as insinuated by mischief makers is unintelligent, shallow and unfounded, asking, “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 electorates cast their votes or will they be giving ballots in polling stations without on-site accreditation? This is laughable and should be disregarded.”
The UNYF lauded Mr. President and the National Assembly for massively supporting reforms in the electoral body to ensure transparent, credible and fair elections, stressing that unlike the unfounded fears expressed in some quarters, the government has demonstrated in recent time guinuene committed to a transparent and credible process for Nigerians.
The UNYF President said, “While we call on all and sundry to mobilize and support the commission towards the conducts of 2023 General elections, which we believe will be the best in our nation history, we wish to also call on INEC to ensure the timely arrival and delivery of all sensitive and non-sensitive materials to all nooks and crannies with commitmented/ loyal staff to the Nation against the normal tradition and ensuring they recruit capable adhoc staff.”
