Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has condemned the call for the resignation of INEC chairman Mahmoud Yakubu.

The Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party and other groups and individuals have called for Mr Yakubu to resign.

The AYCF described those calling for the resignation of Mr Yakubu as agents of “destabilisation.”

“We say no to the forces of destabilisation of Nigeria who has been calling for the resignation of INEC chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, without any cogent reason,” AYCF national president Yerima Shettima said in a statement on Sunday.

After the February 25 presidential election in which APC presidential flag bearer Bola Tinubu was declared the winner, political parties and groups called for the immediate resignation of Mr Yakubu.

Mr Tinubu, a former two-term governor of Lagos, defeated Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, according to INEC.

Several opposition parties and election observers condemned INEC’s several flaws that manifested during the poll, ranging from alleged “technical glitches” to the failure of the commission’s chair to enforce the seven-day review of the election results before declaring Mr Tinubu as the president-elect.

AYCF said it was prepared to tackle any deliberate ploy to cause a crisis in the name of unsubstantiated allegations of rigging against INEC.

“We call on men and women of good conscience to support the efforts of INEC to bequeath a good electoral legacy to the country,” the group stated. “Imagine holding elections under a cashless policy when their rural areas are without banks and ATMs or have non-existent internet infrastructure.”

It urged civil society to be “careful about acting the script of candidates who have lost the just-concluded elections and are trying to engineer thuggery, killings, and arson.”

“We all have a duty as Nigerians to be patriotic enough to speak the truth and stand by peace, unity, and national stability,” the statement added.