The leaders of opposition parties in Nigeria on Friday stormed the High Commission of United Kingdom, United States as well as embassies of the European Union in Abuja, saying that voters have been compromised ahead of the 2023 elections.
They also dropped a petition against the plot to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and deactivate the BVAS from the commission’s server.
The protesters under the aegis of the Coalition of United Political Parties were led by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party, Action Alliance, and other opposition parties.
The spokesperson for the CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, told journalists that they were demanding “global hunt down of the conspirators and their families with visa ban, freezing of assets freeze and arrest where possible.”
The CUPP also demanded firm action against the people who had held Nigeria and its 200 million citizens down.
“They perpetrate themselves in office through 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.
Calling on all the foreign missions to keep a closer eye on Nigeria’s transition process, he warned that the plot to destabilise INEC could throw Nigeria into crisis which was capable of truncating the nation’s democracy and shattering West African regional peace.
The opposition leaders identified a controversial governor from the South-East as being 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 the foreign missions is necessary to engender peaceful, acceptable, credible, free and fair election and also promote national security and the principles of participatory democracy and rule of law.
He expressed the belief that the foreign mission can wield enough pressure on the government to do the right thing and allow INEC to independently conduct the elections.
Meanwhile, a group, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, has warned against any attempt to sack Yakubu ahead of the 2023 general elections across the country.
The AYCF criticised a group calling itself ‘Arewa Coalition’ for calling for the sack of the INEC boss, warning nothing should happen to the nation’s electoral body chairman.
AYCF’s National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima while addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Friday, 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.”
According to him, Nigeria should forget about the call by the so-called ‘Arewa Coalition’, describing them “mere attention seekers masquerading as campaigners for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC.”
Shettima added that as result of the improved innovation brought about by the current INEC boss and his team, any call for his sack, was unacceptable.
