A group of Muslim female professionals, the Criterion, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to allow peoples’ votes count during the 2011 general elections,

The group also took a swipe at the National Assembly for appropriating to itself a huge chunk of the nation’s finances.

Criterion, in a statement signed by Shareefah Joke Yusuf, charged INEC to prevent a situation where elected officers were removed from office by the court at the twilight of their tenure.

“We cannot but lend our voice to the call for a credible election as we look forward to 2011.  Every Nigerian citizen is hereby called upon to resolve towards the credibility of the election by ensuring that they register to vote.

“We also call on the election umpire, INEC, to write its name in gold by avoiding all forms of biases.  Let the ballot boxes speak for Nigerians this time around.  A situation where we encourage illegal occupation of offices for several years only for the courts to upturn such illegality later is hereby condemned,” the group said.

It called on Nigerians to come out and register en masse for the elections, stressing that the road to a free, fair and credible elections starts with effective voters’ registration.

The group condemned the fat pay of members of the National Assembly, expressing regrets that the lawmakers earned so much in the midst of poverty ravaging the great majority of Nigerians who voted them into office..

“We condemn in its totality the looting game of our so-called representatives who feed fat on our treasury, while the people who they claim to represent go to bed hungry, while most of our schools lack the necessary equipment and our children are home because their lecturers are on strike, while majority of our graduates parade the streets for jobs, despite being armed with their certificates, while our hospitals are reduced to consulting centres.

“We again salute the courage of the governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido sanusi, for his courage and uprightness in exposing the enemies of the masses who parade themselves as our representatives.

“For those calling for the head of Sanusi Lamido, we strongly warn you to be careful and desist from harming him because Allah the Lord, whose power is above any and all power, is solidly behind him,” the group said.