The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and civil society organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNC­SOs) have demanded that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commis­sion (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, resigns from office.

The CNPP and the CSOs issued a 14-day ultimatum to Prof. Yakubu to step aside or they will galvanise all demo­cratic and legal means to force him to do so.

In a statement jointly signed by the CNPP Secretary Gener­al, Chief Willy Ezugwu and the National Secretary of the Coali­tion, Alhaji Ali Abacha, they ex­plained that the INEC chairman, who failed to deploy the Bimod­al Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) it procured “despite bil­lions of naira wasted on the 2023 general elections is not worthy of remaining in office and must not be allowed to continue to waste the nation’s resources in conduct of future elections.”

According to the statement is­sued in Abuja, the CNPP and the CSOs said that they are equally disturbed that “INEC under Prof. Yakubu has equally consti­tuted itself into an obstruction to justice in the electioneering process in Nigeria by becoming a partisan umpire and opposing petitioners who are in the vari­ous tribunals to seek justice after being allegedly rigged out in the elections.”

They also accused the INEC chairman of inflating about N105.25 billion spent on acquir­ing BVAS machines for the 2023 polls, saying that “despite having been severally accused of ma­nipulating the February 25 pres­idential election results, counsel to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud, recently aligned with the posi­tion of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 presidential elec­tion to object to the presentation of subpoenaed witnesses who were INEC ad-hoc staff during the 2023 presidential election in the petition filed by Atiku Abu­bakar and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We recall that at the resump­tion of proceedings on Atiku’s pe­tition last Thursday in Abuja, one of the witnesses, Egwuma Friday from Kubwa area of Abuja en­tered the witness box and prayed the court to admit his witness statement, but all respondents in the petition, including INEC, raised objections to stop the wit­ness from testifying.

“This is the same INEC that has been accused of manipulat­ing election results by deliber­ately refusing to transmit poll­ing units’ results as promised real-time.

“From mere allegations, a staff of INEC, Abedemi Joseph on Friday told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that they were instructed by the commission under Prof. Yakubu, their employer, not to give copies of election results to political par­ty agents who declined to sign the results.

“It’s now becoming more ob­vious that until INEC chairman exited from the commission, rebuilding confidence in the electoral body will be impossible due to the now battered image of the commission in the eyes of the electorate.

“More so, INEC under Prof. Yakubu took four years to mis­lead Nigerians by creating false impression that uploading of the election results to the BVAS real-time was the only way to go for the country’s electoral system.

“Contrary to expectations, INEC made it impossible for electoral officers to upload the re­sults of the presidential election real-time from the polling units, which may have created room for the upload of manipulated election results.

“We note that the former Minister of Transportation and chieftain of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC), Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, had revealed that a member of the camp of the presidential candidate of his party, now President Bola Tinu­bu, nominated the chairman of INEC, Prof. Yakubu, for his reap­pointment for a second term.

“In the words of Amaechi, ‘There are those of us who op­posed the reappointment of Yakubu Mahmood. The person who nominated him is a member of Tinubu’s camp. So what are you expecting?’

“So, how can anyone convince Nigerians that such a character remain in office as INEC chair­man for a single day, not to even think of allowing him to conduct another election in the country?

“We equally call on the Eco­nomic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), other an­ti-graft agencies, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately commence investigation of INEC’s N105.25 billion budgeted for acquiring 200,000 units of the Bimodal Vot­er Accreditation System (BVAS) as the budget has been found to have surpassed the estimated market cost by a whopping 30.4 percent, yet Nigeria lost the an­ticipated benefits, and for consti­tuting himself into a national se­curity risk as his continued stay in office could trigger violence in the country.

“According to our findings as corroborated by the media, the BVAS machines, which were deployed during the now con­troversial 2023 general elections, EMP2920 Biometric tablets, were manufactured and supplied by Shenzhen Emperor Technol­ogy at an inflated unit cost of $795 (N366,089.55) at the rate of N460.47/$) as against the Amazon price, where the device sells un­der a different name SecuMind Tablet Biometric CX2920.

“Why should the INEC chair­man remain in office after wast­ing 34.51 percent of the total sum of N355 billion budgeted for the 2023 polls on the procurement of biometric devices that never worked?

“In a sane clime, such an of­ficial who failed woefully to con­duct an acceptable general elec­tions after receiving all he asked for should have long resigned.

“We, therefore, demand the immediate resignation of the INEC chairman within 14 days.

“At the expiration of the ul­timatum, all democratic and legal means possible would be deployed to force him to quit the office.

“All the CNPP organs at the state level and the civil society groups under the CNCSOs across the country are being mobilised for appropriate action in event that Prof. Yakubu remains in office after two weeks from today.

“It is on record that the CNPP and the CSOs fully backed INEC in the build up to the 2023 general elections and insisted that all that the commission required should be made available to it since INEC chairman had assured of conducting free, fair and credible elections.

“The same promise to do what is right was made by the INEC chairman at the Chatham House before the elections and today, the world is seeing Nigeria as a mock­ery among the comity of nations, especially with the testimonies emanating from the election peti­tion courts where INEC staff are indicting the commission under Prof. Yakubu.

“Therefore, if the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, who followed the instructions of for­mer President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign the naira to ensure that illicit funds were not deployed for 2023 elections, could be ordered to step aside from of­fice, why should Prof. Yakubu, who has done more harm to the psyche of Nigerian electorate than any past chairman of the commission in Nigeria’s history, remain in office?

“Prof. Yakubu dashed the hopes of Nigerians in a credible 2023 electoral system, raising vot­er apathy to the highest level in the country, and for us, it’s time up for Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to quit the stage as INEC chair­man. Enough is enough”, the statement concluded.