Anti-Tinubu groups protest in Abuja, demand interim govt

Protesters opposed to the declaration of Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect on Thursday took to the streets of Abuja demanding the invocation of an Interim National Government.

They urged Presidential Muhammadu Buhari to put the ING in place before leaving office on May 29.
They protested under the aegis of the National Youth League for the Defence of Democracy and demanded the immediate arrest of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, by the State Security Services SSS.
They carried various placards with different inscriptions.
They asked foreign embassies in Nigeria to immediately revoke the visas of 15 INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners.
Those they want sanctioned RECs of Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Kano and Imo states.
Others are Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Katsina and Edo states.
Addressing journalists at the Unity Fountain where the protest started, one of the leaders of the group, Dr Moses Paul, said the interim government is expected to appoint a new INEC chairman and conduct a fresh election that would produce a befitting President for Nigeria.
He said, “We are citizens of Nigeria, lovers of Nigeria, standing on the path of our constitution and citizens’ rights. We are here particularly to address the greatest crime that has happened in the history of the world and in Nigeria. People were burnt in Kano; people were shot in Rivers, and we have seen the greatest inhumanity happen in Lagos State in the course of this election.
“Two demands we are making; we are asking the President of this country to immediately arrest and prosecute the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who has committed the greatest fraud in the history of humanity. We need him arrested and prosecuted.
“Our number two demand is that we are asking that an interim government be put in place. We are saying that, because we do not want President Muhammadu Buhari to continue, his tenure is ending, so as a father he should put in place an interim government so that the interim government will now appoint another INEC chairman who will conduct a free and credible election and produce a befitting President for our country.”
When asked to provide other options if the two demands were not met, one of the co-conveners, Anngu Orngu, said they are harmless Nigerians “but we will use every other civil and lawful means to make sure that our demands are met”.
“We are here as frustrated Nigerians and the fundamental rights of Nigerians have been trampled upon by Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC and we are here calling for his immediate resignation. We have also requested that the DSS should arrest him, and he should be prosecuted by the EFCC.
“We are calling on the DSS to arrest Mahmood immediately, the EFCC should investigate him and we are also calling on the Nigerian Judiciary because those concerned are already in court, particularly the presidential election of February 25, we are calling on the judges in Nigeria that we want justice to prevail.
“We have been to the US Embassy, we have been to the British Council in Nigeria, and we have also submitted a letter to the French Embassy, calling on them to advise the Nigerian government that the Nigerian people are not happy. We the young people of this country are not happy over what is happening in our country. We may be peaceful now but when you push even a goat to the wall, the goat may bite,” he added.

In one of the letters made available to journalists and addressed to the United States Embassy, the protesters called for sanctions against the INEC chairman.
The letter read in part; “The conduct of the elections is in substantial none compliance with the extant legal framework.
“These criminal actions of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu have led to the dampening of the revived spirit of youths who in anticipation of a country that works for all, turned out in their large numbers to vote, some for the first time in their lives, for their preferred candidates only to be greeted with violence and subversion of their collective will.”