Poll Shift: Charly Boy threatens INEC

The convener of protest group #OurMumuDondu Charles Oputa has said that he will lead a peaceful protest to the headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if the commission shifts the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.

Oputa, also known as Charly Boy, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, early on Saturday, Feb 16, announced the postponement of the  polls to Feb 23 because of “logistics and operational problems”.

The Commission also shifted the state Governorship and legislative elections as well as Council polls in the Federal Capital Territory from March 2 to March 9.

However, reactions have continued to trail the action of the electoral umpire with many Nigerians, especially political players, calling for the resignation of the chairman.

Charly Boy, the Convener of Ourmumudondo Movement, however, noted that he saw the inability of Nigeria to hold the polls on the scheduled date as ‘an act of God’.

He however warned that any further shift of the elections, especially the presidential poll, would be protested by his group.

“I want to believe that what happened on Saturday is some kind of divine intervention, no matter how much things have become so politicised in our environment.

“However, if there is another postponement, we will go to INEC office to tell us what is happening and whether they are truly independent or not.

“Unless they want to set fire on an already tensed situation in the country, I see no reason why INEC should postpone the elections again.

“Nigerian politicians are very desperate to get and hold unto power and it is part of my nationalistic engagement to speak against mindless political criminality in the polity, “he said.

Charly Boy urged Nigerians, especially the youth, to come out and vote for leaders of their choice in all the elections.

The  68 -year-old activist, who described himself as the ‘President of all frustrated Nigerians’, however, expressed disappointment that the youth failed to rally support for  young candidates to realise the “Not Too Young To Run” dream.

He explained that they had earlier initiated the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together, a coalition of young Nigerians vying for office of president, to produce and rally support for one candidate.

“It is my duty to encourage every young Nigerian to come together to form a formidable front to enable them take power from the recycled leaders.

“It is a bit sad that we could not realise that this time around but I urge people to vote who they like because that will form the basis of how we transit in 2023.

“ APC and PDP  are like  the devil and the deep blue sea and I do not want any youth to vote for them, whether one is lesser evil or not, evil is evil.

“With that, we would know who are popular candidates among the young breed and we shall know and keep records of the number of votes they can muster,” he said.

Charly Boy stressed that young people needed to achieve a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s political history and urged them to be united in common struggle for a better Nigeria.

He lamented that Nigerian youths were being deprived of opportunities in the midst of plenty because of bad leadership over the years.

“There is no need an average Nigerian should be angry, my people need to be free from the grip of bad leadership.

“However, I know that the cycle of evil is winding up and we want to see that it happens finally in 2023,” he said.