CUPP alleges secret lawsuit to stop use of BVAS in 2023 elections

The implementation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the general elections of 2023 is allegedly being challenged in secret, according to the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), which made the claim on Wednesday.

The group claimed to have proof of this scheme when it addressed a press conference in Abuja through its spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere.

However, despite claiming that a lawsuit had been filed in a court in the South East of the nation, it failed to identify the plaintiff.

In particular, Ugochinyere claimed that the Owerri Federal High Court, where the lawsuit had been filed since August 24, 2022, was where the CUPP monitoring team found it.

He further alleged that the “Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmood Yakubu, was under pressure to announce a change to the Commission’s hard stands on the compulsory use of the BVAS machine for accreditation or get sacked as Chairman of the Commission.

“CUPP intercepted intelligence which has led to the discovery of the suit filed seeking to nullify the BVAS and exposure of the massive compromise in the voters register.

“The third leg of the plot is to sack the National Chairman through a suspension as the plotters know they cannot get the required numbers from the National Assembly for an outright sack.”

Read also: CUPP charges INEC to nullify Imo by-elections over violence

Ugochinyere also displayed extracts of the National Voters Register which it claimed were part of at least ten million fake registrations done by one of the political parties.

“The names were sourced from both within and outside Nigeria including some African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Togo, Guinea, Gambia and countries outside Africa including Jamaica, Brazil and New Zealand.

”Significant among the discoveries in the register is the fact that majority of the foreign names were all born in 1983 despite whether their photographs showed they were old or young.

“Many people were also shown to have been born between 1900 and 1914 yet their photographs were those of young people.

“Equally, many male photos had their gender written as female and vice versa,” Ugochinyere clarified.

As a result, the coalition has “called on international partners, local and international observer groups, civil society and the general public to help it and protect democracy.

“The success of any of these plots will erode the integrity and credibility of the electoral process and deny Nigerians the sovereign right to freely choose their leaders.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now