By Tony Adibe
The Zikist-Aminu Kano Patriots (ZAP) has landed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the golden opportunity provided to youths to vote massively in the forthcoming general elections.
ZAP also commended Buhari and Prof Mahmood Yakubu, INEC National Chairman and his INEC team, for their commitment and preparedness for the general elections.
NewsBits recalls that INEC has fixed Feb. 25 for Presidential and National Assembly elections as well as March 11 for Governorship and State Assembly elections. The Secretary of ZAP, Dr Steve Igweze, told newsmen in Enugu on Sunday that the sequence of these events had rekindled the confidence of millions of ZAP members nationwide on the electoral process.
Dr Igweze said: “We cherish the opportunity the holidays offered to our dear undergraduates to massively participate and decide who presides over our affairs in the next four years, so as to avoid mass exodus of youths to abroad. President Buhari accordingly has patriotically thrust their future and their destiny in their hands.
“The President has gone ahead to free our undergraduates to massively participate in the elections by granting them holidays.
“With over 70 per cent of the age grade between 18 and 50 years dominating the 93 million registered voters; Nigerians youths cannot blame ethnicity, religion or sundry fault lines if they fail to vote for the candidate with verifiable better character, more competence and no history of looting.”
The ZAP secretary explained that in addition to the 2022 Electoral Act, a progenitor of electronic transmission of results, which we dubbed Vote-Rigging-Vaccine (VRV), President Buhari had assured the world of his commitment to free, fair, and transparent elections.
“President Buhari has gone ahead to set up a Transition Council, headed by Mr Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). All these moves and more not mentioned, shows his (Buhari) preparedness to midwife a credible election and hand over seamlessly,” he said.
On Prof. Yakubu and his INEC team, Igweze commended the commission’s tenacity, diligent planning, and robust defense of two-phase elections at the National Council of State meeting last Friday. He said: “We commend INEC Chairman for his resistance to anti-democrats cum Election Results Deniers; whose intent is to muddle the general election and cause confusion.
“They were least concerned about how cumbersome it is to count and electronically transmit five different results to the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal. And, also most importantly, the risk the disparity between the less than five per cent percentage of INEC’s permanent staff and over 95 per cent temporary staff pose.”
