Agbakoba to Tinubu: Remove INEC Chairman after EFCC, CBN chiefs’ suspension
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba has asked President Bola Tinubu to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu.
Agbakoba made this call in a statement he released via his official Twitter handle on Thursday.
According to the senior lawyer, the INEC boss must leave office by resignation or removal, in order not to impede the electoral reform in Nigeria. Agbakoba, however, commended the President for the suspension of Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and AbdulRasheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He said, “Full congratulations go to President Tinubu for getting rid of Emefiele and Bawa and fuel subsidy and forex corruption. Endemic corruption has suffered a massive blow.
“Next is for the president to dismantle INEC. Everyone will agree that logistically, the 2023 elections are the worst in our history. I do not refer to the merits of the results of the elections. Many results are disputed and are in Tribunals. Both petitioners and respondents suffered at the hands of an incompetent INEC.
“As we await rulings from the courts massive reforms of the electoral framework ought to begin but this means that the INEC Chairman will have to leave office by resignation or removal, otherwise the reform task will be impeded.
“I add very quickly that the suggested reforms have nothing to do with the merits of election results at all. Both winners and losers of the elections were victims of the failure of INEC. Confidence in Nigeria’s democracy will be enhanced by a deep cleansing of INEC.”
Recall that Yakubu was appointed as the INEC chairman by former President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015, to succeed Attahiru Jega, who supervised the 2015 general elections.
But, Buhari reappointed Yakubu as the electoral commission boss in October 2020. Vanguard
