The All Progressives Congress, APC, spokesman in the South-East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu has dismissed the protest by the members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, describing it as self-serving and part of the moves aimed at stopping the INEC from using the card reader for the elections.
Thousands of members of the MASSOB had on Friday staged peaceful protests across the five states of the South East zone calling for the immediate removal of the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega.
MASSOB alleged that Jega was working for the opposition All Progressives Congress.
The MASSOB members some of who dressed in their official navy blue uniform with the Biafra insignia, the rising sun and armed with different placards, urged the federal government to remove Jega from office to forestall bloodshed that could arise from a “biased election” which he (Jega) was allegedly planning to conduct in favour of the opposition party.
But Okechukwu while wondering why MASSOB had suddenly deviated from its core mandate of seeking for a separate state of Biafra to supporting a federal election, said the usage of card reader remained the only solution to electoral malpractices in the country.
He further stated that singling out Jega, out of the 12 National Commissioners, 36 Resident Electoral Commissioners and 774 Electoral officers who would be involved in the elections for vilification had shown the desperation of the ruling party to win at all cost.
“At what point did they fall out with Jega to the extent of now engaging paid agents to embark on protests for them. This is the same man that did all the hatchet job for them in 2011 and they praised him to high heavens that he was the best man for the job. Suddenly, he has become the wrong guy because he said time has come for Nigeria to do the right thing.
“Because he said we should use card reader which has been discovered to be the antidote for ballot box stuffing, this is a device that was used in the Indian election where over 600 million people voted seamlessly without rigging and complaints; so many democracies have used the device while our people are here saying know”.
“Now they have recruited Uwazuruike to do the job for them. I think, since MASSOB has abandoned its core mandate, they should be disbanded,” he said while clearly describing as mischievous, and false the claim that Professor Jega was now working for the opposition party.
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