Protesters opposing Tinubu take over Abuja.

Yesterday, fresh protests rocked the nation’s capital, Abuja, for the second time in two days over the recently concluded elections, with protesters kicking against the May 29 inauguration of President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

As they did on Wednesday, the protesters demanded the establishment of an Interim National Government (ING) in order to hold new elections.

Angry Nigerians, protesting under the auspices of the National Youth League for the Defence of Democracy, NYLDD, demanded the immediate dismissal and arrest of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, by the Department of State Services (DSS).

Armed with placards bearing various inscriptions, they also demanded that 15 INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, have their visas revoked immediately.

State RECs from Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Kano, Imo, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, Cross River, Katsina, and Edo were among those they desired to be sanctioned.

One of the group’s leaders, Dr. Moses Paul, told reporters at the Unity Fountain, where the protest began en route to the appeals court, that the interim government was expected to appoint a new INEC chairman who would conduct fresh elections that would produce a suitable president for Nigeria.

“We are Nigerian citizens, Nigerian lovers, standing on the path of our constitution and citizens’ rights,” he said. We are here to address the greatest crime in the history of Nigeria and the world.

“During the course of this election, people were burned to death in Kano and shot in Rivers, but the most heinous acts were committed in Lagos State.”

“We demand that the president of this country immediately arrest and prosecute Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, who has committed the greatest fraud in human history. We require his arrest and prosecution.

“Number two on our list of demands is the establishment of an interim government. We are saying that because we do not want President Muhammadu Buhari to continue in office, his term is coming to an end, and as a father, he should put in place an interim government that will appoint a new INEC chairman who will conduct free and credible elections and produce a president befitting our country.”

If the two demands were not met, one of the co-conveners, Anngu Orngu, stated that they were law-abiding Nigerians who would use every other civil and legal means to ensure that the demands were met.

“We are here as frustrated Nigerians, and the fundamental rights of Nigerians have been violated by INEC under the leadership of Mahmood Yakubu. We are here to demand his immediate resignation.” We’ve also requested that he be arrested by the DSS and prosecuted by the EFCC.

“We have visited the U.S. Embassy and the British Council in Nigeria, and we have also sent a letter to the French Embassy requesting that they inform the Nigerian government that its citizens are unhappy.”

The protesters demanded sanctions against the INEC chairman in one of the letters addressed to the United States Embassy and made available to the media.

The letter stated, “The conduct of the elections is in significant violation of the existing legal framework.

“Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s criminal actions have dampened the revivified spirit of youths who, in anticipation of a country that works for all, turned out in large numbers to vote for their preferred candidates, some for the first time in their lives, only to be met with violence and subversion of their collective will.

“Based on the foregoing, we implore your good offices to, among other things, impose appropriate sanctions and revoke the visas of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and all the Resident Electoral Commissioners of states where these infractions were prevalent, especially the RECs of Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa, Kano, Imo, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo, parts of Edo state.

(TNT)