CUPP raises alarm over plot to sack INEC chairman, Prof Yakubu

The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has alleged there is a plot to sack the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu.

Spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, at a press conference also alleged to use a secret suit to stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) in the 2023 elections.

Ugochinyere said the vigilance of the opposition, following credible intelligence, discovered the secret suit at the Owerri Federal High Court where it was filed since August 24, 2022.

The opposition also displayed extracts of the national voters’ register which it claimed were part of at least 10 million fake registrations done by one of the political parties.

The opposition said the names were sourced from both within and outside Nigeria including some African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo, Guinea, and Gambia and countries outside Africa including Jamaica, Brazil and New Zealand.

Ugochinyere said that significant among the discoveries in the register is the fact that the majority of the foreign names were all born in 1983 despite whether their photographs showed they were old or young.

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He said many people were also shown to have been born between 1900 and 1914, yet their photographs were those of young people, adding that many male photos had their gender written as female and vice versa.

The opposition further alleged that INEC chairman is under pressure for the commission to announce a change to the Commission’s hard stands on the compulsory use of the BVAS machine for accreditation or get sacked as Chairman of the Commission.

Ugochinyere said: “We state that the discovery we have made goes beyond the case of double registration. It is a monumental compromise of the national voters’ register by Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The last leg of the plot is also the sack of the INEC Chairman through the courts. A plot that would be accomplished where the man insists or continues as an unbiased umpire.”

Ugochinyere said that the intelligence the CUPP intercepted which has led to the discovery of the suit filed seeking to nullify the BVAS and exposure of the massive compromise in the voters’ register cannot now be wrong that the third leg of the plot is to sack the National Chairman through a suspension as the plotters know they cannot get the required numbers from the National Assembly for an outright sack.

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The opposition thereafter called on international partners, local and international observer groups, civil society and the general public to help it and protect democracy as the success of any of these plots will erode the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and deny Nigerians the sovereign right to freely choose their leaders.