Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is not under any pressure to resign before the 2023 general elections, the commission has said.
The commission also dismissed as rumours that some politicians plan to force INEC to drop the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
It insisted that there is no going back on the deployment of the technology for next year’s polls.
Some political parties and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) recently alleged plots to truncate the elections through the stopping of the use of the BVAS and electronic transmission of results.
According to them, the plans had been perfected to create a crisis of confidence based on trumped-up charges that would lead to the removal of top INEC officials, including Prof. Yakubu, and other national commissioners who are insisting on BVAS for the elections and the “irreversible” use of electronic transmission of the result.
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They also claimed to have “intercepted intelligence of an alleged fresh plot against the 2023 elections being coordinated by leading figures of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by one of its Southeast governors and another from the Northwest who are working with their colleagues.
They claimed the persons were also working on, among others, the “Deactivation of the BVAS machine from the INEC server”.
But the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, told The Nation that the Commission is not contemplating dropping the BVAS.
He said: “The Commission is not contemplating dropping the BVAS. It has come to stay. The BVAS will be used for all elections to be handled by INEC going forward, including the 2023 General election.”
On the purported plan to sack the Commission’s chair, Oyekanmi, said: “I am not aware of any ‘heightening pressure’ on the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to resign. As you are aware, the 2023 general election is about four months away and preparations for this all-important poll are ongoing. The INEC chairman is focused on delivering a free, fair, credible and inclusive General election. This is what is pre-occupying his mind at the moment.”