The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has made claims concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to China and as well as the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The President will leave the country on Friday with some governors, senators, ministers among others.
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CUPP said it had uncovered political and legal landmines being put in place by the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to “derail the course of a credible, free and fair polls in 2019”.
Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, CUPP spokesman, in a statement on Friday, said part of it was the delayed assent on the Electoral Bill, a situation the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned.
He said: “Nigerians will recall that the National Assembly delivered to the President the Electoral Act Amendment Bill for his assent. The President has 30 days within which to assent. Today is President Buhari’s last working day within the 30 day period. We had earlier raised this alarm that the President was unwilling to sign the amendment into law.
“It has now become clearer that the President will later today after hosting the German Chancellor Angela Merkel depart to frolic in China at the 7th Summit of the Forum on China – Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a visit the President is embarking on with an unnecessarily bloated government delegation devoid of any Nigerian businessmen/women or beneficial target.
“We have it on good authority that a National leader of the APC working with the leadership of the APC before and after their APC NEC meeting yesterday and in the early hours of today have convinced the Buhari led APC government to reject signing the amended Electoral Act as it will open the road to defeating the APC especially in the upcoming Osun State gubernatorial election as the new amendments especially the mandatory use of card readers, electronic transmission of result and accreditation will give no room for massive rigging and manipulation of figures in 2019.
“The APC is scared of the amendment and currently pressuring Buhari to withhold assent and travel to China despite knowing the importance of signing the amendment as most of INEC 2019 preparation and budget are tied to some provisions in the yet to be signed law. The fear of free and fair election is solely behind the reason Buhari wants to run to China without signing a law critical to survival of our democracy despite the fact that the Parliament has deleted all the controversial sections Buhari wants removed, just to please him.
“The plot we have uncovered is that the ruling APC in active connivance with the President have already concluded plans on how to rig the Osun State Governorship election in favour of the APC and signing the amendment will frustrate all their plans. This will in turn grant them some more undue advantage in the 2019 general election for which the President is obviously having a mortal fear that Nigerians will throw him out of office.
“Similarly, the stopping of the Continuous Voter Registration by the INEC today is part of a larger plot by the President and the Ruling APC to deny angry and desperate Nigerians who have been turning out in their hundreds from having the opportunity to vote. Simple analysis has shown the ruling Party that a vast majority of the over 13 million new registrants are people who want to ensure that President Buhari does not continue to destroy our country beyond May 2019 and stopping the process four months before the statutory time can help them mitigate their challenges.
“We are therefore calling on all Nigerians of goodwill to demand that the President assents to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill before he embarks on yet another fruitless and wasteful journey at the expense of the suffering Nigerian masses and also demand that INEC continues the process of the Continuous Voter Registration so that many more Nigerians will not be disenfranchised.”