President Muhammadu Buhari has dismissed suggestions that he’s planning to remove Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The president spoke following insinuations that some elements in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC are not happy with some reforms being made by the commission in order to make the 2023 election free, fair, and credible.
What riled these hawks the most in the present INEC leadership, it was learned is its decision to use the Bimodal Voter Registration System, BVAS in next year’s general election as a way of eliminating voter fraud and rigging.
But Osita Okechukwu, the Director General of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN and a staunch member of the APC recently described the technology as a “vaccine to vote rigging”.
In spite of this, pressure is being mounted on the president to fire Prof. Yakubu less than four months into the critical election, according to sources in the presidency.
Reacting, the president said on Tuesday that he has no such intention.
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, who spoke at the 2022 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, IDEI in Abuja on Tuesday said there are no plans to replace the INEC boss or stop the use of BVAS in the 2023 general elections.
The president who acknowledges the role of INEC in ensuring that the 2023 elections go ahead as planned, said the use of technology cannot be underestimated.
Adesina said, “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 and internationally that three times he contested, three times he ended at the Supreme Court because the government of the day would just write results.
“Technology came and there are permanent voter cards, so it is 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 a 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 presidential spokesman said.
Recall that Ugo Chinyere, the spokesman of the Conference of United Political Party, CUPP had last month alleged plot to remove Prof. Yakubu.
