Elections: Don’t set Nigeria on fire, HURIWA cautions INEC

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to give Nigerians a credible election in order to avoid protests and violence.

National Coordinator, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, made the call in a statement obtained by Vanguard in Abuja on Tuesday.

Onwubiko urged INEC to resist any desire to rig the elections and that they should hearken to the voice of Nigerians in doing what is right.

He said, “The political elites in Nigeria are known to have two homes; one in Nigeria and others in foreign jurisdictions especially in Western Europe. So, they stay in Nigeria to instigate riots through mismanagement of elections and thereby allowing the commoners to die because they will catch the next available flight to Europe or Dubai to escape the inferno, deaths, pains and pangs that will follow.

“This is the reason why they keep manipulating the electoral process for their own selfish gain because so many of them have billions of dollars in their offshore account and own lots of housing assets abroad so much so that they are kept away from the consequences of the internal crises they created in Nigeria and left the hoi polloi to perish.

“We are asking the leadership of INEC to tell us why they are intent on setting Nigeria on fire. Why rig the election so brazenly and refusing to hear the voices calling them to do what is right and just? Why is INEC bent on setting Nigeria on fire by their gross mismanagement of the 2023 polls?

“We demand that the INEC Chairman and his Commissioners remedy the manipulated and doctored results they have already created to avoid the violent protests that may start very soon. Therefore, this is the time to act.

“We are calling on Buhari to call INEC to order now and if protests are ignited because of these shenanigans by INEC, we ask the international community to caution the Nigerian outgoing President not to kill protesters extrajudicially or he will be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague Netherlands for crimes against humanity because he is the head of the armed forces of Nigeria for now.”

HURIWA further endorsed the latest warning of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo against continuous manipulation of election results by INEC and urged INEC to listen to his counsel.