CUPP Insists On Plot To Remove INEC Chairman, Demands International Monitoring Of 2023 Election

The Coalition of United Political Parties(CUPP) has insisted on the alleged plot to sack the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

Naija News learnt that the CUPP had on Friday protested at the High Commission of the United Kingdom, United States and embassies of the European Union in Abuja demanding a global hunt down of the conspirators and their families with visa ban, freezing of assets freeze and arrest where possible.

The protest which was led by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), Action Alliance (AA), and other opposition parties also dropped a petition against the plot to remove Yakubu and to dismiss the usage of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the 2023 election.

The CUPP spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere, told journalists at a press conference that they were demanding firm action against the people who had held Nigeria and its 200 million citizens down.

“They perpetuate themselves in office through the rigging, deny the people of their democratic choice, loot the common treasury and acquire property across the globe. If these properties are seized, they will learn their lessons,” Ugochinyere said.

On this premise, Ugochinyere called on all foreign missions to keep a closer eye on Nigeria’s transition process.

He however warned that the plot to destabilise INEC could throw Nigeria into a crisis which has the tendency to truncate the nation’s democracy and shatter West African regional peace.

The CUPP spokesman also accused a controversial governor from the South-East as the kingpin of the plot to undermine next year’s election, saying “he initiated the underhand moves and sold the idea to the ruling party.”

According to him, the intervention of foreign missions is necessary to ensure a peaceful, acceptable, credible, free and fair election and also promote national security and the principles of participatory democracy and rule of law.

Ugochinyere noted that he is sure the foreign mission can mount intense pressure on the government to do what is right by allowing INEC to independently conduct the elections.

AYCF Warns Against Attempt To Remove INEC Boss

Meanwhile, a group called the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has cautioned the government against any attempt to sack the INEC chairman ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The AYCF warned another group the ‘Arewa Coalition’ demanding the removal of the INEC boss, and that nothing should happen to t Yakubu.

AYCF’s National President, Yerima Shettima in a press conference in Kaduna on Friday, said Nigerians shouldn’t pay attention to the request of the so-called ‘Arewa Coalition’, describing them as mere attention seekers disguising themselves as campaigners for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC.

He said, “as a group of progressive-minded advocates, we totally disagree with the so-called Arewa Coalition calling for the sack of the INEC National Chairman.”

Shettima added that the INEC chairman has improved the electoral system, so any plot to sack him was unacceptable.