Shuaibu Oba-Abdulraheem, the Kwara governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), says Nigeria would not be experiencing the current situation if the Independent National Electoral Commission prepared well for elections.

Mr Oba-Abdulraheem alleged that some Nigerians influenced the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, to manipulate processes.

“The preparation has been very poor, and it is unlike the character of Mahmood Yakubu that I know,” Mr Oba-AbdulRaheem told reporters on Friday.

He added, “I used to know him as an honest and upright man, but I think he is being manipulated by some people.“

The gubernatorial election, earlier slated for Saturday, was shifted to March 18 to enable INEC to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for cross-checking voters’ names and authenticating them through fingerprints or facials.

However, the governorship candidate said the change of date was allaying the fear between the poor masses and the electorate, adding that ordinary Nigerians were worried about the whole process.

“The conscience of INEC has been touched because they appear to be the instrument that may be used by corrupt people to destabilise Nigeria, “ he said.

He said the change of the date could not be challenged because the laws of the land were supreme.

Mr Oba-AbdulRaheem, former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin and Federal Character Commission (FCC), said no matter how big or important anybody or an organisation felt, they could not be bigger than the law of the land.

“The law is there to protect the poor masses, “ he said.

(NAN)