THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reiterated that its newly-deployed technology, Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has come to stay.
National chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave the stance amidst fresh alarm by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), civil society organisations and ethnic youth leaders.
The coalition had, while addressing newsmen at a joint world press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, alleged that there had been pressure on the leadership of INEC to deactivate BVAS from the server.
Its spokesman, Ugo Ikenga Ugochinyere, said though INEC had been resisting the pressure, there is allegedly a new plot by one of the political parties, led by some governors, to commence plot to remove the national chairman and some top officials of the commission.
The coalition resolved to petition the United Kingdom High Commission and the United States Embassy and alert the foreign partners of the alleged conspiracy, which, it said, would threaten the Nigeria’s electoral process and regional stability.
He warned that any further action in trying to remove the INEC chairman, deactivate BVAS or any act to compromise the 2023 election will be an affront and challenge to Nigerian voters and the entire political parties which will be resisted.
Also speaking, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Labour Party, Chief Peter Ameh, said it is the confidence that Nigerians have in the electoral system that has caused the renewed vigour in the recent past in young people coming out to register and participate in the electoral process.
“That hope in Nigeria must not be allowed to wane be- cause of the activities of a few individuals who are in power today,” he said.