2023: University Don Fears For Yakubu’s Life, Reveals Why Corrupt Politicians Are After INEC Chairman’s Removal
A Professor of Political Science at the Abia State University identified as Hartz Ofoeze has said he fears for the life of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
reports that Ofoeze noted that Yakubu’s life is at risk because the moneybag politicians will stop at nothing to get him off their way to subvert elections.
According to him, corrupt politicians are doing all they can to remove the INEC chairman from his position in other to rig the forthcoming general elections.
The university don who asserted that said the rogue political leaders are desperate to oust Yakubu told Vanguard that those politicians would do anything to stop the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in other for them to go back to their old ways of rigging.
He noted that “I’m even afraid for his life because they just want to win at all costs, and would not mind truncating the entire system.
They believe that once they remove him, they will bring somebody who can be teleguided and manipulated to abandon the use of BVAS just to allow them to go back to the old system that can be easily manipulated.
All these harassments are by those who feel threatened over Yakubu’s insistence to do the right things this time around.”
Ofoeze’s reaction follows the attempt by the Department of States Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to arrest the INEC boss last week.
reported on Wednesday that one Somadina Uzoabaka had approached the court with a suit seeking to sack the electoral commission’s boss ahead of the 2023 general elections over alleged false asset declaration.
Justice M. A. Hassan, however, on Wednesday refused the application alongside the 14 reliefs brought by the claimants. The judge held that Prof Yakubu’s asset declaration was lawful, valid and in compliance with the law.
The court judge forbade the security agencies mentioned in the ruling from arresting Yakubu.
Uzoabaka’s summon marked FCT/HC/GAR/CV/47/2022 was against the Attorney General of the Federation and Prof. Yakubu.
Reacting to the lawsuit, the Abia State University professor submitted that “As far as I’m concerned, the persecution of the INEC Chairman is deliberately crafted by those who are afraid of his insistence on the use of modern technology to conduct the forthcoming elections.
In the past when we claimed people had won elections, most of them never won any elections. They just went there, wrote figures and declared themselves winners. But now they are afraid that somebody is bent on conducting a credible poll, and that is why they are after the man.”
Giving his take on the destruction of INEC facilities ahead of the general election, Ofoeze told Vanguard that “As for the attacks on INEC facilities especially in the South East, the aim is to deprive one of the presidential candidates with a strong base in the zone of his votes.
They were taken unawares, and now they would prefer that the election does not even hold at all. If it were to be in those days when there were no BVAS machines, they would have been happier to hold the election but Nigerians are watching.”
