The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has said it believes that the appointment of Amina Zakari to head one of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) election committees is a plot to rig the election.
The coalition made this known in a statement on Sunday by its national spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere.
INEC appointed the controversial Amina Zakari, who has been accused of aiding the president to rig elections in his favour, to head its collation centre committee.
“The Coalition of United Political Parties has declared the appointment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s niece, Amina Zakari as the Chairperson of Presidential Election Collation Centre Committee as a plot by the INEC to rig the 2019 Presidential election in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This appointment is coming barely 24 hours after INEC denied that it was being pressured by the Presidency and the ruling APC to rig the election, a denial that has now fallen flat on its face and exposed the Electoral Commission as a part and parcel of the rigging machinery of the APC.”
CUPP said it believes this is blackmail from the president, on the chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, from his time at TETFUND.
The coalition described this appointment as an invitation to anarchy which it rejects, threatening to pull out of the peace accord signed by presidential candidates of different parties to maintain peace during and after the election.
This act, CUPP believes, is an act of desperation by the president, which must be “reined in now before it is too late.”
“We categorically reject this appointment and will consider very drastic measures including pulling out of the peace accord which does not repose a commensurate responsibility of the President to allow INEC conduct a credible, free and fair election.
“We have it on good authority that the INEC Chairman is being blackmailed by the Presidency with investigation reports of the EFCC which discovered massive corruption when the Chairman held sway as Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
“It is clear that the Presidency has successfully put a leash on the neck of the INEC Chairman and he has by this appointment relinquished a most critical element of his job as the Presidential election returning officer to an interested party.”
With what it described as a compromised Inspector General of Police and a compromised chairman of INEC, CUPP called on coalition member candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives to gird their loins as they are going to be the first line of defence on Election Day to stop “these election riggers.”
