Why INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu Must Come Clean With Nigerians Regarding 2023 General Elections: Sowore

Why INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu Must Come Clean With Nigerians Regarding 2023 General Elections: Sowore


The AAC presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore in the gathering of INEC officials with political party leaders on Monday, February 13th, 2023, held in Abuja has advised the INEC chairman, yakubu mahmood to speak out now if the election won’t be conducted as planned.

He noted that the CBN would sabotage the electoral process through the current issue of currency circulatory crises.

He said, “In our last meeting, I proposed very strongly that before we grant the central bank of Nigeria the opportunity to handle sensitive material, we should meet with the board of CBN.

“That was my position at the last meeting. It was as if I was seeing into the future that the CBN will try everything they can to sabotage this election, while some did not agree because they had a deal with the CBN governor.

“Now , these same individuals are holding rallies in support of the CBN, holding press conferences in support of the negative and retrogressive money crises in the country.

He stated that the CBN has guaranteed some candidates adequate money just like they guarantee INEC, but INEC should understand that going outside the monetary policy and the budget of the country to guarantee cash is illegal.

He reminded them of the process for moving cash and if cash is moved outside that process, it is money laundering.

“Don’t let anybody promise you cash without the right process.

“Also you cannot deny the fact that people don’t have money to spend because according to INEC rules, i cant vote in abuja, i have to travel to ondo state to go and vote, he added.

He said to the INEC chairman that “There is a monetary crisis in this country and no matter what they are doing to assure you of protection, they have no power to protect you.

“You should worry about nigerian people out there who on the way to this place as i was coming this morning are queuing up in every bank available in the country.

“The fact there is no petrol, gasoline to move your materials around should bother you.

“This is the time to be an activist yourself, ” says Sowore to the INEC chairman, mahmood yakub.

He continued, “Just like the way apc has become activist now. They are the ones who cause the problems, they are the ones who are also activists acting against the problems because they want to distance themselves from the problem they created.

“They are smart in their own ways. They want to make sure that they are not punished for the president they elected.

He said INEC should look at the chance of feasibility to logistically hold this election and tell the public the truth.

“The whole country is looking up to you and you will be blamed if the election fails. Wear the garment of your conscience. If you feel you cannot hold the election, can’t cry out now.

“You have a historical duty to make this election work, if you think you are being sabotaged, cry out now.

Sowore then further asked the INEC chairman three questions.

If there is an election runoff, are you prepared for it? And if it’s true that you are prepared, which party is on your ballot paper?

How many people have collected their PVC as of today?

You have one hundred and seventy six polling units and one hundred and six million polling agents, which parties sufficed these polling agents?

Help us it breakdown, how many polling agents were submitted to your office per party so that we don’t end up with one million polling agents for one party and the rest parties are sharing five hundred thousand.

Electoral Act Empowering INEC As Major Decision Makers For Parties Is Not Democratic: Sowore

The Presidential Candidate of African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore has criticized the new electoral act for having a deficit that got the senate president declared in an election where he never contested for its primary election.

He challenged the Nigerian lawmakers at the national assembly public hearing on the “Electoral Act 2022” saying they had made it possible to be taken advantage of by the judiciary.

“I want to say regarding this that the electoral act has a lacuna that is being exploited by the judiciary. We are all aware that even though the electoral process has been closed, courts are still giving conflicting judgements regarding candidates in this election including some candidates that didn’t even participate in primaries that have been imposed on inec as we speak, one of them is your president here, he said.

The AAC Presidential Candidate also condemned the electoral acts that empower INEC to become a major decision maker for parties, saying it is not a democratic electoral act.

“An electoral act that also empowers inec to become a major decision maker for parties is not a democratic electoral act.

He made mention of how parties are being deregistered at will and urged the senate to look into it.

He said, “The senate should look directly into how to curb inec power to deregister parties because that does not promote democracy at all. Parties are registered and participating in elections and whenever inec likes, they deregister them and they may shut out very serious ideological parties. I am afraid that if they are allowed to do that, some of our parties might become victims of this excellent but draconia power of inec.

Sowore pointed out how incapable the INEC live servers have been and its inability to handle queries in national elections unless the ICT department of INEC creates a solid website that can carry out encrypted messages from polling units.
“They don’t have strong servers, they don’t have the ability to connect to as many queries coming to it instantly the way other websites should function, he said.

TakeItBack Movement’s Pressure Successful as INEC Extends Voter Registration by Two Weeks

TakeItBack Movement’s Pressure Successful as INEC Extends Voter Registration by Two Weeks

It is with great pleasure that the Take it Back Movement can announce that, thanks to pressure placed on INEC Nigeria at their Abuja office on the 8th of August, the deadline for the Continuous Voters’ Registration, formerly 17th August, has now been lifted. Nigerians will now be allowed to continue to register to vote in the upcoming presidential elections until the 31st of August – the deadline being shifted by two more weeks.

If anyone was still in doubt as to the power held by youth prepared to fight for their future, this landmark turnaround by INEC should be enough to clear those doubts. The standpoint of the Take it Back Movement has never wavered: wherever the rights of Nigerians are being impeded or thwarted, we will fight, using the proper channels, to ensure liberation and justice.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for giving us the opportunity to discuss this issue that has proven challenging to many Nigerians, and for yielding to a decision that cements Nigeria’s democracy.

The battle is only half won, however. We urge all Nigerians to avail themselves of this opportunity to make a difference on the 16th February, 2019. There is a real opportunity to create the Nigeria we dream of; a Nigeria that works for all Nigerians, not just the elite few. For the first time, there are real options in this race, and we appeal to every eligible citizen to take advantage of this new hope.

We’ve said it before and we will say it again: Nigeria MUST progress!

Rachel Onamusi-Kpiasi
Director, PR, Media and Communications
TakeItBack Movement/Sowore2019