INEC Chairman and President Buhari.
The presidency has spoken about replacing INEC Chairman ahead of the 2023 Election.
Newsone reports that the office of President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that there are no plans to replace the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to stop the use of Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) in the 2023 general elections.
This online news platform understands that the statement on INEC Chairman was disclosed by the media aide to the president, Femi Adesina, who assured Nigerians that the elections will go as planned.
The Presidential aide noted that President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledges and is committed to the role technology plays in elections.
The president’s assurance:
Speaking at the 2022 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI) in Abuja on Tuesday, he said, “Recently, there was one group that said the chairman of INEC was going to be removed because maybe they didn’t want BVAS.
“How many times has the president spoken about the role of technology in getting him into office?
“He has spoken about it locally and internationally that three times he contested, three times he ended at the Supreme Court because the government of the day would just write results.
“Technology came and there are permanent voter cards, so it is difficult to write results.
“So, how and why can the same person have issues with BVAS? I saw that group on television, alleging that there was a plan to remove the INEC chairman and the media gave them that opportunity.
“Such things should be treated with contradictions because they don’t make sense, at least not under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari,” he stated.
The Presidency noted that Buhari has always described his commitment to credible elections, and the media, the electoral management body, and other stakeholders have critical roles to play to achieve that.
Meanwhile, this is coming after Newsone Nigeria had reported last week that The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) revealed that it is yet to print the permanent voter cards (PVC) of eligible voters who took part in the continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise from January 15 to July 31, 2022. INEC explained that the cards are yet to be printed because INEC has not finished cleaning up the voters’ register.