Northern youths under the aegis of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) have urged Nigerians to jettison calls by some unpatriotic citizens for the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
According to them, INEC under Yakubu has shown neutrality in all elections since 2015.
In a statement issued in Kaduna, yesterday, signed by its president, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the forum said that it has followed with keen interest, the ongoing smear campaign against the helmsman and calls for his sack, describing those behind it as “a group of rabble-rousers masquerading as campaigners for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC, when in fact they’re attention-seekers.”
Shettima said: “As a group of progressive-minded advocates, we totally disagree with the so-called Arewa Coalition calling for the sack of the INEC National Chairman…the Arewa Citizens for Good Governance did not bother to check how much spectacular achievements INEC under Prof. Yakubu recorded before their charade of spurious claims and allegations.
“The circumstances under which INEC has been effectively planning, coordinating and generally handling its operations is unprecedented, considering the financial difficulties currently facing Nigeria due to rampaging inflation.”
Meanwhile, a South West socio-political group, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum (YRLF), yesterday, cautioned Nigerians against discountenancing the attempts by clandestine groups to oust Prof Yakubu from office, as well as stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for 2023 general elections.
In a statement, the President of the forum, Akin Malaolu, claimed that “some desperados would stop at nothing to stop anything they considered inimical to their personal ambitions in the coming elections.”
Wondering why such nefarious rumour should be making the rounds at a time that INEC is preparing to conduct free, fair, and credible elections, Malaolu wrote.
“Those who love Nigeria and care about its continued existence should stand up and speak against the idea whether it is a rumour, or not, that attempts are being made by some unscrupulous people to achieve these claims.”
The statement continued: “From the testimonies of many known and unknown political players across the country, and as documented by many media outlets, we have observed the following: that certain sections of the country still want to retain power at all cost regardless of its implications, and they have people in other sections of the country to aid them.
“That another section of the country believes fully and wholly that it is its turn to occupy the Presidency, and that section believes in a true and fair election,” the statement said, adding: “We must warn those orchestrating such moves to think twice and retrace their steps not to de-recognise the true spirit behind the setting up of an independent institution to manage our elections…”
“As leaders of thought in the Southwest, we have seen what may become of Nigeria if necessary measures to check electoral abuses are not put in place. President Muhammadu Buhari, should not be asleep or aloof completely as these dangerous dark clouds get closer to us all because we may not have a country called Nigeria again. We have warned.”
