The Southern and Middle Belt Alliance (SaMBA) has asked Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to quit if credible elections cannot be held.
SaMBA also called on heads of organizations in charge of conducting free, fair, and credible elections to resign immediately if they are unable to assure Nigerians that the governorship elections on March 11 will be free, fair, and credible.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by its spokesperson, Prince Rwang Pam Jr., SaMBA specifically tasked the INEC chairman, the Inspector General of Police, the Director of the Department of State Service, and members of the various election tribunals to reassure Nigerians or quit honorably.
The group bemoaned the failure of INEC, the police, and the DSS to “competently perform their constitutional duties” during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections “have not only brought international disgrace to Nigeria but equally failed to protect the mandate of millions of Nigerians.”
It stated that Nigerians require a commitment that goes beyond verbal promises, noting that instances of bullying, intimidation of voters, and snatching and destruction of electoral materials in various polling units across the country in the presence of security agencies demonstrated gross incompetence on the part of the police, whose primary responsibility is to protect lives and property.
The statement read partly, “After a week of such daylight destruction and intimidation, neither the NPF nor the DSS has paraded any of the political thugs or their sponsors as a demonstration of their commitment towards defending the integrity of the electoral process.
“Consequently, millions of Nigerian taxpayers and the international community are fast losing confidence in the sincerity of these security agencies.”
The group further berated the INEC chairman and his commissioners “who either by omission or commission or both have conducted an election that has been unanimously rejected as not being free, fair or credible by international observers and local observers as well as majority of Nigerians.”
