Southern, middle belt leaders meet Friday to push for INEC chair removal

Southern, middle belt leaders meet Friday to push for INEC chair removal

- Southern and middle belt Leaders’ Forum will hold a meeting on Friday, June 15, to call for the remover of INEC chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu

- The forum said they would not back down on their demand for the removal of Yakubu and the service chiefs before the 2019 elections

- President Buhari was also faulted over the constitution of the country's security chiefs who are mostly from the northern region

Calls for the removal of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmoud Yakubu will gain momentum as leaders of southern and middle belt leaders’ forum are expected to meet over it on Friday, June 15.

Mr Yinka Odumakin, joint secretary of the forum disclosed this on Wednesday, June 13.

Punch reports that Odumakin said the leaders would not back down on their demand for the removal of Yakubu and the service chiefs before the 2019 elections.

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He reportedly claimed that the four geopolitical zones that constituted the forum had no confidence in Yakubu.

“The meeting is a continuation of our normal consultations on the issue of restructuring to have a just and fair Nigeria. Those issues continue to dominate our agenda. We have put our demand for removal of the INEC chairman and the service chiefs as a cardinal issue. We are not going to back down on them. We would continue to press on them. They would form part of the issues for discussion on Friday,” he was quoted to have said.

Going further, he faulted President Buhari, over the constitution of the country's security chiefs who are mostly from the northern region.

“The impediments (to the 2019 elections) are so many. The major impediment is the security architecture in the country, the way the President has organised the security architecture, having 15 out of 17 service chiefs from his region.

“The tenure of the service chiefs has expired, but he kept them. This is geared towards the 2019 elections. Again, the composition of INEC does not give us confidence about the elections.

“The former acting Chairman of INEC, Amina Zakari, appointed by President Buhari happened to be his relation. Our information indicated that Zakari is more powerful than the INEC chairman. The nepotism that had crept into INEC does not give us confidence that there would be free and fair elections,” he added.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that some leaders in Nigeria have called for the removal of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu.

The leaders under the aegis of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum said they fear that INEC may not deliver free and fair elections in 2019.

Governor Fayose warns Nigerian youths ahead of 2019, tells them what to do on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng

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