Polls: Protesters ask U.S. to revoke 15 RECs’ visa

Some protesters, on Thursday, asked several foreign embassies in Nigeria to immediately revoke the visas of 15 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The aggrieved Nigerians protested under the aegis of the National Youth League for the Defence of Democracy (NYLDD) in Abuja on Thursday.

They expressed displeasure on the conduct of the 2023 general election, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute an interim government before leaving office on May 29, 2023, and sack the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

The RECs they want sanctioned are those of Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Kano and Imo. Others are Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Katsina, and Edo states.

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In one of the letters made available to journalists and addressed to the United States Embassy, the protesters also 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.

“Based on the foregoing, we pray your good offices to amongst other appropriate sanctions, withdraw the visas of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, all the Resident Electoral Commissioners of states where these infractions were prevalent, particularly the RECs of Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Kano, Imo, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, parts of Cross River, parts of Katsina, and Edo states.”

The Star