President Muhammadu Buhari has refuted reports of plans to remove the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and stop the use of Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) and electronic transfer of results in the 2023 general elections.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, at a policy dialogue programme organised to mark the 2022 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI), in Abuja on Tuesday. declared: “Recently, there was one group that said the chairman of INEC was going to be removed because maybe they didn’t want BVAS.
“How many times has the President spoken about the role of technology in getting him into office?
“He has spoken about it locally, internationally that three times he contested three times, he ended at the Supreme Court because the government of the day will just write results.
“Then, he said until technology came and there was a permanent voter cards and so it was difficult to write results.
“So, how and why can the same person have issues with BVAS? I saw that group on television, alleging that there was plan to remove the INEC Chairman and the media gave them that opportunity.
“Such things should be treated with contradictions because they don’t make sense, at least not under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The policy dialogue, themed “Media, Civil Society and Violence-free Election in Nigeria”, was organised by the Ministry of Justice, Kano State Government and Managing Conflict in Nigeria Programme.
Adesina added: “If you are going to rig elections, of course, the police will be critical in rigging it and here you hear the president saying at every opportunity, don’t rig election.”
Adesina said while Buhari has always described his commitment to credible elections, the media, the electoral management body and other stakeholders have critical roles to play to achieve that.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had said that the Federal Government was committed to supporting journalists in discharging their social and constitutionally guaranteed responsibility.