Obasanjo calls for sack of Yakubu, other INEC leaders nationwide 

Former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the dismissal of the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and officials of the commission at all levels as part of a reform of the electoral process in Nigeria.

Obasanjo made the call in a paper he presented at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University, in the United States. The annual lecture honours the late Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe.

He delivered the address, titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria”, in a pre-recorded speech played at the event.

In his speech, Obasanjo described the 2023 general election as a “travesty”, adding that the reform of the electoral system is a key agenda for the country.

The former president also called for shorter tenures for INEC officials and a more rigorous vetting process to prevent the appointment of partisan individuals.

“As a matter of urgency, we must ensure the INEC Chairperson and their staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should produce dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations.

“Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government, and municipal – city, town, and village – levels, with short tenures to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption, and to re-establish trust in the electoral system by its citizens,” he said.

He argued that “The INEC Chairperson must not only be absolutely above board but must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.”

Obasanjo said the commission willfully failed to utilise two main technological tools at its disposal—the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)—during the 2023 presidential election, despite the promises made by Mr Yakubu.

“The BVAS and IReV are two technological innovations that, prior to 2023, were celebrated for their potential to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes.

“These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. INEC wilfully failed to use or implement them, which resulted in widespread voting irregularities. It was a case of inviting the fox into the henhouse,” he said.

INEC faced criticism after the last general elections, particularly over the failure of the IReV platform during the presidential election, which INEC blamed on a technical glitch.

The IReV platform was central to post-election litigation, but these cases were dismissed by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the Supreme Court.

Obasanjo backed Mr Obi during the last presidential election and, during the collation of results, called for the cancellation of some results that did not pass the “credibility and transparency test”. His call for the then-president to halt the collation was widely criticised by many.

INEC has also faced criticism over its conduct during the Edo State off-cycle governorship election.

Concerns have also been raised about the appointment of partisan individuals to leadership roles within INEC.