BY ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
Anyone who sponsors actions against the deployment of BVAS during the upcoming general elections in Nigeria is simply an enemy of democracy and anyone trying to sabotage the preparations for electronic accreditation and upload of results in the upcoming election should go down in history as a traitor against our fledgling democracy.
Yesterday, a group, Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) raised an alarm that the ruling All Progressives Congress has finalized plans to manipulate the 2023 general elections by already circumventing the biometric security of the voter registration process. The group alleged among other things that the governor of Imo State, His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma registered over 46,000 new voters in his Omuma. The names revealed as forming a bulk of these new registrations are as ridiculous as they are unbelievable.
Also, there are allegations that the Imo State governor is behind a frivolous legal action targeted at removing the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmoud. The name supplied as a plaintiff in that suit sounds fake and non-existent and people suspect that there might already be a subterranean arrangement to PROCURE a last-minute favorable judgement from a corrupt judge, not just sacking the INEC Chairman, but also nullifying the use of BVAS during the election.
If it is proven that my governor is behind these antidemocratic and I daresay traitorous moves, the Omuma born maverick would have further consolidated his ignominious place in history as an unrepentant villain of democracy in West Africa. And if the names being spread around as new voters are truly in our voter’s register, then INEC has had its job cut out for her as an organisation; she must fire all those in charge of its ICT department in its Imo office and make sure to set an example with them by prosecuting them for electoral fraud. There won’t be any explanation for how these names found their ways into our voter register, because there is practically no how Jamaicans would come here to do biometric capturing. The INEC should also thoroughly audit its data capturing infrastructure to ensure that it is not vulnerable to manipulation. If fake people could register, then fake people can vote, and most likely, multiple voting is a possibility.
The attempt to stop the deployment of the BVAS is a confirmation that those behind such moves have accepted how unpopular they are with with their people, and if such people have the slightest modicum of honour, they should resign from their current offices, instead of seeking backhand ways to rule the people against their will.
The ruling All Progressives Congress and INEC must understand that they cannot keep Nigerians down for so long. If they make peaceful change through the ballot impossible, then they should be ready for what they cannot control. They would be setting Nigeria up for a total collapse, because no one can continue to take us for granted.
For my dear governor, I will say simply; Wepu aka enwe na ofe tupu ya aghoo aka mmadu.
MAY NIGERIA WIN!
