A former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Sunday, commended the immediate-past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for revealing those who truly appointed Professor Mahmood Yakubu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Amaechi had while responding to questions from reporters after casting his vote in Rivers State Governorship and Assembly elections on Saturday, disclosed that Professor Yakubu was nominated for appointment by a member of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s camp.
Amaechi, according to a video of the interview which has gone viral, said: “What advice? I have spoken to everybody concerned on this issue before the election.
“I have spoken especially to those of us who opposed the reappointment of Mahmood as INEC chairman.
“The person who nominated him for appointment is a member of Tinubu’s camp. So what are you expecting? Success?”
Amaechi said Mahmood worked under Wike as Executive Secretary of TETFUND when Wike was Minister of State for Education.
“So what you are having in Rivers State is that APC, SDP and others are contesting elections not against PDP but against INEC and against the Police,” he stated.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, in his reaction to the revelation, thanked the former Governor of Rivers State for his boldness and courage in revealing that Yakubu was installed by Tinubu’s cabal to help rig the elections in his favour and that of the APC.
He said that as a former top Minister under President Muhammadu Buhari and a chieftain of the APC, Amaechi was competent and credible enough to reveal those who facilitated the INEC job for Yakubu.
Frank said: “From day one, it is clear that the INEC chairman did not have any good intention to give Nigerians a credible election but to just come and handover.
“He decided to deceive Nigerians and that is why he refused to follow the Commission’s own election guidelines because of the hatchet job he was prepared to do for those who facilitated his appointment into office.
“The INEC chairman needs to be arrested for lying and his refusal to follow the template and guidelines put in place by the commission, an act that is tantamount to criminality.
“The first and second elections were massively flawed by rigging and violence in most of the states.
“The last time we witnessed violence in Nigeria was during the 2011 general election. This election as corroborated by Amaechi, was not a contest between PDP and APC, but a contest between PDP and INEC and security agencies.”
He insisted that because the INEC chairman owed overwhelming allegiance to Tinubu for appointing him to the job, all he did was to reward Tinubu with votes rather than conduct a free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “That is why the INEC chairman did not come out to conduct any election. He only came to reward Tinubu and the cabal that brought him into office.
“Based on Amaechi’s confession, he only came to reward the people that put him there rather than conduct a free and fair election.
“That is why he gave Nigeria to Tinubu and APC. Then gave Rivers state to Wike as there was no election in the state. He only rewarded his benefactor.
“We believe with this kind of evidence and proof that Amaechi has revealed, the INEC chairman lacks integrity and credibility to remain in office.
“With all of this, he needs to resign and go. Apart from immediate resignation, he should be arrested based on all the crimes he has committed and prosecuted for selling the will of the people to reward those who fought for him to be appointed for a second term in office,” Frank added.
According to the Bayelsa-born political activist, Prof. Yakubu practically conducted the worst and most fraudulent election in the history of Nigeria because of an obligation he owed those who saw to his appointment.
He claimed that the fraud and rigging perpetrated during the elections showed clearly that Buhari was not only culpable but a partner to the dirty marriage that culminated in the re-appointment of the INEC chairman.
“We expected Buhari to have left a legacy of free, fair and credible elections which he promised Nigerians but what has happened shows that he equally lacks integrity and honour to keep to his words.
“He came and benefitted from democracy peacefully, but turned around to destroy it.
“With this, we call on the international community to help Nigeria because we don’t have confidence in the government of today under Buhari,” he said.
He further called on the international community to urgently take strong measures against election riggers in the country like the INEC Chairman, security chiefs – police and others – that allegedly rigged the elections and fraudulently thwarted the will of the people.
He added: “In all of these, with the amount of rigging, intimidation, violence and allocation of votes that characterised the elections, we believe the nation’s Judiciary at the end of the day will be able to redeem our democracy by doing substantial justice to all petitions that would be brought before the courts.”
Frank, therefore, prayed God to repose the souls of those who lost their lives as a result of violent attacks during the elections as well as sympathised with those who were injured and their families.
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