The spokesman of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, Kenneth Okonkwo, says Nigerians should insist on the sack of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu.
Days after the presidential election, the popular actor is still angry with the chairman of INEC.
The INEC Chairman did not only offend Kenneth but also got Nigerians very angry.
Perhaps you have forgotten in a hurry what Kenneth Okonkwo claimed Mahmood did to Nigerians, let us quickly take you down memory lane.
Promise And Fail
Nigerians, especially opposition parties, are angry with the INEC Chairman because of the conduct of the presidential election held on Saturday February 25.
Prior to the election date, Mahmood Yakubu promised Nigerians that his administration would deliver a free, fair and credible election.
He promised Nigerians that the 2023 election would be ‘one man, one vote’.
The INEC Chairman introduced the BVAS machines which further convinced people that truly, the commission would make the election a remarkable one for Nigerians.
According to the electoral body, the BVAS will aide in the transmission of election results in real time.
This will make rigging and manipulation of the election difficult.
Nigerians, home and abroad, in their desperation for better Nigeria trooped out in large numbers to register and collect their permanent voters card (PVC).
It did not just end there, large crowds of voters were spotted at various polling units across Nigeria.
However, to the surprise of many, the INEC Chairman proceeded with the manual collation of results despite cries by political parties, stakeholders and Nigerians in general.
Also, it did not end there. Mahmood, after failing to keep his promise of uploading and transmitting of results went ahead to declare the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, the winner and president-elect.
This, opposition party said was a deliberate collaboration with the ruling party to twist the thumbs of the people.
Also, INEC went ahead to issue the certificate of return to Tinubu.
Electoral Misconduct And Punishment
Again, another incident followed that pushed Kenneth Okonkwo’s anger to a new gear.
Days after the presidential and National Assembly elections, the Sokoto State Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Nura Ali was sacked by INEC.
The commission says Ali should stay away from the office.
The reason he was sacked is still a secret. However, people believe it will not be unconnected with the conduct of the election in the state.
He was also demanded to hand over to the administrative Secretary of the commission, Hauwa’u Kangiwa. Hauwa takes over full charge of INEC office in Sokoto with immediate effect.
The directive came four days before the governorship and House of Assembly elections across Nigeria.
A source told journalists that “a lot of hitches were recorded during the last elections.
“Late arrival of materials at polling units and improper conduct of poorly trained ad-hoc staff.
“And you know Sokoto is a very difficult state when it comes to the conduct of elections.
“The state requires a highly experienced and capable hand to manage its elections.
“The controversy during the last election is the major reason the commissioner was asked to step down while a highly experienced team was deployed to manage Governorship and other elections in the state”.
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Leadership By Example
Giving his opinion on the development, Nollywood actor, Kenneth wants Nigerians to do what INEC did to its official.
HE says: “If INEC could take such action against Sokoto REC then Nigerians must insist on Mahmood’s sack including the Lagos State REC for allegedly stealing from Nigerians”.
To him, the INEC Chairman should lead by example and sack himself.
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He wrote: “Mahmood INEC has sacked Sokoto and Abia RECs where they said PDP and LP won for breaches of the law.
“Can someone tell me what Mahmood is waiting for before sacking himself and the Lagos and Rivers RECs where APC and INEC officials openly stole?
“Nigerians must insist on their sack.
“We must recover our mandate freely given to us on February 25th by the Nigerian people”.