2023: Again, CUPP Alleges Plots To Remove INEC Chair, Compromise BVAS

THE Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), a body of political parties in Nigeria, has again raised the alarm over an alleged plot to remove the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmud Yakubu before the 2023 general elections.

CUPP spokesperson Ikenga Ugochinyere, who raised the alarm at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, also said there were plans to compromise the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine during the elections.

He noted that plans had been concluded on deactivating the BVAS from its server. Ugochinyere also alleged that INEC will be pressured not to transmit the results of the 2023 polls electronically.

However, he warned that the opposition parties will resist any attempt to conduct the 2023 general elections without BVAS and electronic transmission of results.

According to him, the opposition parties would also be heading to court over the issue, and also petition the international community about the alleged conspiracy to compromise the election.

“As parties, we say that arrest and public shaming of the perpetrators and their collaborators who perpetrated the voter registration fraud is non-negotiable,” he said

“No matter the atmosphere, no matter who is involved, as leaders of the country’s political process and platforms, we have an equal stake and can’t be intimidated into silence.

“We will continue to act within the ambit of the law, but we are not going to run away or surrender to those who want to destroy what they did not build and what does not belong to them. We are ready for the election and will keep vigilance and not allow our electoral process to be derailed.”

Last month, CUPP raised similar alarm. It also alleged that the national voter register was filled with names from different countries.

According to CUPP, some of the names were sourced from countries like Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo, Guinea, Gambia, Jamaica, Brazil and New Zealand.

Ugochinyere said there were pieces of evidence from the registrations captured from passport photographs and other photos.

But INEC, which has expressed its resolve to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2023, has since refuted the allegations of foreign names in its register.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his resolve to leave a legacy of free and fair elections for the country.

Buhari made the pledge when he addressed the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the United States, last month.