By our correspondent
Group of Ethnic youth leaders in the country has alleged that some senators loyal to the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma; and his Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai are plotting to ensure the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu ahead of the 2023 general election.
The group, under the aegis of the Nigerian Ethnic Youth Leaders Council (NEYLC), warns against the move and plan to deactivate Biomedical Voter Accreditation System, BVAS from the INEC’s portal.
It would be recalled that media reports lately have been suggesting that some politicians are moving against Yakubu over INEC’s insistence on using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in next year’s general elections.
As part of the plan, the politicians were alleged to be planning to instigate the National Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence which could lead to Yakubu’s suspension or removal.
According to the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the President can only remove the INEC Chairman on the strength of a recommendation by the Senate.
The President will have to rely on the nod of two-thirds of members of the Senate, the nation’s highest law-making body to discipline INEC chairman
But the NEYLC, which is made up of the Arewa Consultative Youths Movement (ACYM), Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths Movement, Oduduwa Youths and Middle Belt Youths, made their position known in a statement by the Ohanaeze Youth Movement Secretary-General and Head of Coalition’s secretariat, Nwada Ike Amaka.
The group said the plan to use the Senate to shake Yakubu so that he could jettison the use of BVAS may lead to electoral crisis.
It therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the two governors to order so that they don’t truncate the nation’s democracy under his watch.
“Credible information available to us through our usual genuine sources has shown that loyalists of Governors Uzodinma and El-Rufai in the Senate are already plotting to ensure the removal of the INEC chairman through the back door.
“We are crying out loud to President Buhari to call all the people allegedly involved to order so that they don’t cause unnecessary electoral crisis for the country.
“Let it be known that majority of Nigerians are satisfied with the use of BVAS for elections and no amount of pressure from these self-centred politicians will make INEC change its position on it.
“We are also sounding a note of warning to them to stop distracting Prof Yakubu but rather allow him to concentrate on his onerous task of delivering credible elections for the country in 2023.
“If they do not desist, we shall not hesitate to mention the names of the senators who have been compromised by these All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to wage war against the INEC chairman”, the statement read.
