A cross section of members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, have vowed to resist any form of rigging of the ongoing NSE national elections today.
The members who spoke to newsmen pleaded not to mention their names to avoid being targeted by the cabal plotting to rig the election.
The members called on the current president, Engr. Margaret Aina Oguntala, to stand upright and ensure that there would be free and fair election as failure to do so, that the outcome of the election would be messed up with legal battles. They urged her not to allow the repeat of the 2021 election controversies which they said are still in court.
They said: “Please today’s election is crucial and we want the world to hear us. We are not mentioning our names because the cabals will target us. We are watching them. Nobody is bigger than the NSE, which has been in existence for over five decades now. We must go to any extent to make sure that the right thing is done. The election must serve the interest of all and not few persons who feel that they continue to use the e-voting process to rig the election.
“This time around the e-voting must not be rigged. We must stop them now to save the soul of NSE. Our people are not happy the way the whole thing is going and that is why they are fully ready to fight till the last for the right thing to be done,” they insisted
Also, the engineers used the opportunity to call on the head of their electoral committee – Engr Kashim A. Ali, who doubles as past president of NSE and past president of COREN, to ensure this time that he displays upright statesman in the delivery of this election or face a barrage of legal battles.
They recalled that one Engr Akinteye who felt disenfranchised in the election of 2021 went to court to challenge the outcome of that 2021 election and has been joined in the suit by two past presidents of the society as interested parties with him as plaintiff.
They also recalled that past president Babagana Mohammed during a press conference told the whole world that the election that brought the current president to power was hacked and thereby invited DSS to investigate the process.
But “Till now, the immediate past President, Engr Wuldi, has not had another Press Conference to tell the world the outcome of the DSS report. We are aware of the several litigations flying against NSE and members. So what are the guarantees that this year’s election will not be hacked like the 2021 general election was hacked? But any attempt of such will have the society haemorrhaging with litigations,” they said.