By Chuks Eke
Imeobi Igbo Forum, a Pan Igbo grassroots sociocultural organisation has asked the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commissione, INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud to return with immediate effect, one Mr Chidi Nwafor to his seat as the Director of ICT Department in the INEC Headquarters, Abuja.
The Forum observed that Nwafor was deliberately posted out to far away Enugu State as Administrative Secretary of INEC and replaced with Mr Femi Odubiyi, a former commissioner in Lagos State who incidentally is an ally of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC who was declared the winner of February 25 presidential election, as the President-elect.
National Chairman of Imeobi Igbo, Ugoeju Dr Mike Ikegulu who made the call in a press statement he issued in Onitsha, Anambra state yesterday, via Whatsapp, said returning Nwafor back to his seat as director in the ICT dept at INEC headquarters, as a Japan trained expert in ICT world, would no doubt help to restore confidence in the use of BVAS, particularly now that INEC BVAS are being reconfigured for March 18 governorship and state houses of assembly elections.
The forum contended that returning Nwafor would also help to do a thorough inspection of INEC materials used during the controversial presidential election, as directed by the court in looking into the petitions filed by the opposition parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the Labour Party, LP.
According to the statement, “it will be good to return a square peg to a square hole, by reversing the posting of Chidi Nwafor to his position at INEC for efficiency in transmission of States Elections results and restore Confidence in the use of BVAS technology”.
“it will also serve as a recipe for smooth running of the BVAS and the other related technologies. It is public knowledge that the Nwafor in question is the originator of our version of BVAS”.
“We can no longer take the lie about technical glitches that caused the server to go offline during the 25th March presidential election. When every Bisi, Haruna and Okeke knew that the servers technically hosted on Amazon Web Services had no technical hitch, considering the antecedents of the hosting platform but could’ve been deliberately shot down”.
“It is bizarre and inconceivable to note that on 16th of August 22, Mr Nwafor was technically demoted from ICT director, to State Administrative Secretary. Apparently because he wouldn’t be trusted by the powers that be. Let’s be reminded that Nwafor was a Japan trained computer programming guru, who was key to the development of BVAS in Nigeria and he developed systems to back it up in case of malfunction”.
“He had served in INEC deployments in two previous presidential elections and had a first hand knowledge and experience in experimental deployment of BVAS in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states off season elections”.
“It is mind boggling that he was replaced by Femi Odubiyi, the director of planning and monitoring who is Tinubu’s ally. Looks like replacing an engineer with a teacher in a high tech unit. Where in the world does such a thing happen? Nigeria”.
“Inability to upload the results on real time, has clearly demonstrated compromise in the outcome of the presidential ballot. In saner climes, Mahmud Yakubu should recuse himself from further participation in other elections for the sloppy handling of the elections and showing no remorse for that”.
“Rather than answer to the enquiries about the irregularities in the presidential election he’s gearing up to perpetrate a similar mess on 18th March. A winner was hurriedly declared before the cock crowed, without reconciliation of figures and resolving complaints. As if the organization is in cahoots with those that carried out the electoral heists”.
“Considering that the electoral law says, once results are declared, only a court can reverse, thus enhancing the new mockery, insulting and sardonic phrase of ‘ Go to Court’. With the knowledge that Nigerians are dumb and dormant on issues that concern them out of religious and tribal jingoism”.
“But that of Doguwa was reversed, talking about a confused system. As if the temple of justice, is a stable for fraud, oppression and perpetuating injustice. This obvious renege by INEC on their guideline to upload polling unit results real time went wrong the day Nwafor was sentenced to oblivion”.
“INEC must return Chidi Nwafor to handle his product, if the organization has nothing crooked against the interest of the masses of Nigeria in the forth coming States elections.
Why should Nigeria undermine herself and still hope to make progress?”
