Fides Media Living the Faith
By Michael Nnebife
The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Youth Wing, Anambra State Chapter, Kingsley Nwokoye, has charged the chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to resign his office for failing to conduct free, fair, creditable and transparent presidential election on February 25 as required of him by law.
Nwokoye gave the charge while speaking with the press in Awka on the concluded February 25 Presidential Election in Nigeria.
He said the election represented what he called, Nigeria’s tradition of impunity where people took a public office, gave themselves a law, but deliberately failed to obey it and believed that nothing would happen.
‘I therefore advise INEC chairman to honourably resign for failing the laws of the land which he made, propagated and preached by himself.
‘Even at the point where INEC would have been rescued as people pointed out their mistake, there would have been corrections; but INEC stubbornly refused to be corrected.
‘I thank God for the BVAS technology – it helps to ensure that it is real people that vote and results transmitted electronically to public view. But this is where INEC failed totally, woefully, even without apologies to Nigerians,’ he said.
The Christian youth leader who said he participated in the election, also as an observer under the CAN, wondered why the election that was well funded was characterized by avoidable logistics challenges, which, he explained, resulted in inadequate number of poll unit officials and late commencement of poll in some polling units across the country.
He added that the poor logistics arrangements left a lot of question marks on the election, which, he said, would have been adjudged the best in the political history of Nigeria in recent time.
He however appealed to youths to remain peaceful, calm and prayerful, expressing the belief that God would intervene.
While saying that the situation of the presidential election would not weigh down Nigeria’s youths’ resolve and determination to take the ownership of the nation, Nwokoye enjoined the people, particularly youths, to come out en masse to vote for their choice candidates in the state governorship and house of assembly elections on March 11.