Hartz Ofoeze, a Professor of Political Science at Abia State University, has expressed concern for the life of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that Ofoeze stated that Yakubu’s life is in danger because moneybag politicians will go to any length to get him off their trail to sabotage elections.
According to him, corrupt politicians are doing everything they can to depose the INEC chairman to rig the upcoming general elections.
The university don who claimed that rogue political leaders are desperate to depose Yakubu told Vanguard that those politicians would do anything to stop using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to revert to their old rigging methods.
He noted that;
I’m even afraid for his life because they just want to win at all costs, and would not mind truncating the entire system.
They believe that once they remove him, they will bring somebody who can be teleguided and manipulated to abandon the use of BVAS just to allow them to go back to the old system that can be easily manipulated.
All these harassments are by those who feel threatened over Yakubu’s insistence to do the right things this time around.
Ofoeze’s reaction follows a failed arrest attempt last week by the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force, and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
WITHIN NIGERIA reported on Wednesday that a man named Somadina Uzoabaka had filed a lawsuit seeking to fire the head of the electoral commission ahead of the 2023 general elections due to alleged false asset declaration.
However, on Wednesday, Justice M. A. Hassan denied the application and the claimants’ 14 reliefs. According to the judge, Prof Yakubu’s asset declaration was lawful, valid, and following the law.
The court judge barred the mentioned security agencies from arresting Yakubu.
The summons, marked FCT/HC/GAR/CV/47/2022, was issued by Uzoabaka against the Attorney General of the Federation and Prof. Yakubu.
Reacting to the lawsuit, the Abia State University professor submitted that;’
As far as I’m concerned, the persecution of the INEC Chairman is deliberately crafted by those who are afraid of his insistence on the use of modern technology to conduct the forthcoming elections.
In the past when we claimed people had won elections, most of them never won any elections. They just went there, wrote figures and declared themselves winners. But now they are afraid that somebody is bent on conducting a credible poll, and that is why they are after the man.
Giving his take on the destruction of INEC facilities ahead of the general election, Ofoeze told Vanguard;
As for the attacks on INEC facilities especially in the South East, the aim is to deprive one of the presidential candidates with a strong base in the zone of his votes.
They were taken unawares, and now they would prefer that the election does not even hold at all. If it were to be in those days when there were no BVAS machines, they would have been happier to hold the election but Nigerians are watching.