Explain to Nigerians what’s going on with voter’s register, Otti to INEC

Wednesday’s alarm of orchestrated plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the 2023 general elections, set off by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), has continued to generate apprehension among political actors.

From Abia State, the governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP), Dr Alex Otti, said the allegation to undermine the electoral will of Nigerians, who are eagerly looking forward to the elections, beginning February 2023, calls for concern.

Otti, who had been at the receiving end of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) election rigging and manipulation in Abia State, on two previous occasions, called on the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to live up to its responsibilities.

Responding to the allegation which has questioned INEC’s much-vaunted promise to organise free and fair elections come 2023, the LP gubernatorial hopeful said INEC needs to explain to Nigerians what is going on.

READ: CUPP indicts APC over fake voters’ registration, plot to sack INEC Chair, stop use of BIVAS

In a tweet he sent out Thursday, Otti said: “The recent development concerning the just released INEC voters’ register calls for serious concern.

“INEC needs to respond to the CUPP press conference and explain to Nigerians what is going on.

“We shall continue to monitor keenly the electioneering process, while encouraging INEC to live up to its responsibilities, especially that of an unbiased, transparent umpire.”

CUPP had alleged that a three-pronged plan, which included fake registration of voters, sack of INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, if he does not accede to the plan and the use of a secret court case to stop the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) during the elections, had been hatched by the APC.

Spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, told a press conference on Wednesday, in Abuja, that following credible intelligence, CUPP was able to unravel the fraudulent activities by the APC, including the secret suit, filed at the Federal High Court, Owerri, since August 24, 2022.