2019 ELECTION POSTPONEMENT: Buhari group calls for INEC chairman’s resignation

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has accused chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmud Yakubu, of dereliction of duty and asked for his resignation.

It said Yakubu should resign because of the tardiness that led to the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections in alleged collusion with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

BMO said in a statement signed by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and secretary, Cassidy Madueke, that it was disappointed that the INEC chairman allowed the commission to be infiltrated by opposition elements.

“The INEC chairman did not give indications of any problem before now and is known to have consistently said the commission was prepared and that was because President Muhammadu Buhari made sure that it got the required funding in spite of the delay in budget passage orchestrated by the leadership of the National Assembly.

“Because of Professor Yakubu’s assurances, we would have been right to assume that nothing short of an act of God would have prevented the election from holding but we are disappointed that he had the temerity to use the excuse of logistic challenge to defer the election by one week”, the group said.

The pro-Buhari group also recalled that it once drew attention to possible infiltration of the commission by opposition elements through a former INEC chairman but it was not aware that the commission did not do much to arrest the situation.

It said, “Long before now, BMO raised the alarm on PDP’s recruitment of a former INEC chairman who presided over one of the worst elections in Nigeria’s recent history as a technical consultant.

“So if Professor Mahmud is blaming his inability to go ahead with the election on operational difficulties, then he should be looking inward at internal sabotage by INEC operatives who still owe allegiance to the former Commission chairman.

“If indeed electoral materials were not stacked in CBN offices in states like was done for previous elections, what happened? And why would materials meant for some states be sent to other states?

“The obvious sabotage could also be seen in the way members of the National Youth Service Corps who were recruited as adhoc electoral staff were abandoned to their fate in many states of the federation.

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“So the question is-what happened to funds made available for the welfare of the corps members?”

As for opposition elements blaming the Presidency for INEC’s tardiness, BMO maintained that the postponement hurts President Buhari more than his main challenger in the election.

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