The call by the opposition leaders on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has been described as a political move by a political analyst, Omotayo Yusuf
Yusuf, while reacting to the call for the INEC chairman’s resignation in an interview with Legit, maintained that the plot was for the opposition to back their argument in the court of public opinion and the court of law, because they did not see a pathway to victory for them in the 2027 elections.
He recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also played the same game when it lost to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections, adding that the ADC was only starting the game earlier. He described the move by the ADC as “a classic case”, even starting before the election.
“I will tell you for a fact that if Amupitan is removed as INEC chairman and a new chairman is appointed by the president today, it’s only a matter of time before opposition members come out again to denigrate the INEC chairman, but also express their votes of no confidence in him. “It is understandable, they say, to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. The opposition party does not see a clear pathway towards victory in 2027, and one of the ways through which they want to argue their case, possibly in the court of public opinion, but also in the court of law, is by singling out the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“Don’t forget that when the APC won in 2015, INEC chairman Attahiru Jega, was also subjected to a similar diatribe from the opposition party. Atairu Jega was maligned by the opposition PDP. Don’t forget PDP, which stepped out shortly before the presidential results were announced, grabbed the microphone and was speaking loudly against Jega, saying Jega, you are corrupt, Jega, you are compromised. It is the playbook of the opposition to malign the umpire of an election.
“In ADC’s case, they started the maligning even before the elections started. So, it’s a classic case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It doesn’t matter who is appointed as INEC chairman today. The opposition party has taken a position of already rejecting not only the institution conducting the election, but the head of the institution itself, so that it is part of the things they would argue in court, but also in the court of public opinion that they lost the election because the umpire was not fair to them.”
