Unified Nigerian Youth Forum has declared vote of confidence on the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, on its readiness to conduct the 2023 general election.
The National President of the forum, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem stated this during a press conference in Kaduna.
Comrade Kazeem called on Nigerians to mobilize and support INEC towards the success of the forthcoming election.
The President of the group who stressed the need for INEC to ensure the timely arrival and delivery of all sensitive and non-sensitive materials to all nooks and crannies of the country, asked it to ensure recruitment of capable adhoc staff to achieve the desired objectives.
According to him, the recent elections conducted by INEC under the leadership of professor Mahmud Yakubu, has earned the nation global recognitions among the comity of Nations.
“We welcome you here today in a special way as we acknowledge the pivotal role you play in upholding and promoting the core values of our democratic culture, accountability, transparency and the rule of law. It is in keeping with these, that we seek your partnership to fight off the evil of misinformation by those who take pride in distorting facts for their personal interests and that of their pay masters”
“Despite the giant strides recorded by the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood especially in the area of deploying cutting edge technology such as Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for credible, fair and transparent elections as well as voter mobilisation and enlightenment.
“It is in public domain, the activities of certain group of persons purporting to be promoting the interest of the north and Nigeria, but sadly working for the enemies of the nation, this persons have continued to falsely accused and demand the resignation and sack of the INEC Boss for carrying out his mandate. Those behind this charade are nothing but paid agents and goons of selfish and unpatriotic politicians seeking to manipulate next years general elections at all cost”
According to him, the forum had dispelled in strong terms the rumours making rounds that the INEC Boss and his management team have morally compromised because of pressure from political parties to deactivate Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS
“For the record, please note that; BVAS and all the electoral reforms currently in place have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC majority National Assembly.”
“It is inconceivable to say that the APC or any political party is pressuring INEC. It is again not true that INEC and indeed Prof. Yakubu Mahmood have been pressured by anybody to deactivate or stop the use of the BVAS they introduced in fulfilment of the president’s promise of delivering a transparent election.
Comrade Kazeem pointed out that, INEC is established by law and has a law guiding its activities, saying that, no individual can decide to deactivate the use of BVAS when the law says it should be deployed.
He pointed out that, those who made the allegations were only out to tarnish the reputation of the Independent National Electoral Commission and its Chairman.
He stressed that, Nigerians must not fall to such antics especially now that the general elections is at the corner.
“We also want to make clear, ladies and gentlemen that the allegations that INEC acted in a morally compromised way and denied some persons from the north west and north central an extended period of voter registration as a result of the network shutdown for special military operations is false and misleading”
“The issue of voter registration by INEC is centrally controlled and it is impossible to open the portal for only a particular region. INEC at the behest of Nigerians and the National Assembly extended voter registration severally to enable all Nigerians to register and exercise thier franchise. Besides, the exercise is continuous and repetitive, so how come certain persons are grumbling when INEC opened the portal severally after the era of telecommunication shutdown?”
Comrade Abdulsalam also said the forum was equally worried and concerned with the lie in some quarters that 15,000 foreigners were registered in September alone in the Ward of the current Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma.
According to him, nothing can be more misleading and dishonest than this claim especially now that INEC has recently sanitized the voters register with more than two million double registrants expunged.
He however maintained that, the allegations of ghost voters, registration of foreigners and preloaded fake accreditation as insinuated by mischief makers is unintelligent, shallow and unfounded.
Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for supporting reforms in the electoral system to ensure transparent, credible and fair elections.
COV/AMINU DALHATU