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Tag: Mahmood Yakubu

  • Stakeholders seek support for Yakubu’s ambassadorial nomination

    Stakeholders seek support for Yakubu’s ambassadorial nomination

    The Northern Stakeholders Consultative Initiative (NSCI) has urged political leaders from the northern region to support the ambassadorial nomination of former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

    This follows remarks reportedly made by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar expressing reservations over Yakubu’s inclusion on the list of 35 ambassadorial nominees recently forwarded to the Senate by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    In a statement signed by its Convener, Yerima Shettima, the NSCI said Professor Yakubu’s nomination should be viewed as a positive development for the North, citing his “commitment to public service and experience in national assignments.” The group added that such appointments promote representation and enhance the region’s contribution to national development.

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    Shettima noted that President Tinubu’s selection of qualified individuals from the North reflects a commitment to inclusivity and merit-based governance.

     He stressed the need for stakeholders to encourage efforts that advance the interest of the region, especially at a period when it continues to seek better socio-economic outcomes.

    “The time has come for us to focus on initiatives that foster development and strengthen our position within the country,” the statement said, while encouraging leaders to prioritise unity and constructive engagement on matters affecting the region.

    The NSCI reiterated its support for Yakubu’s nomination and called on northern political figures to avoid actions or comments that may detract from opportunities to improve the region’s representation in federal service.

    The group concluded by thanking President Tinubu for appointing qualified northerners into strategic positions, urging continued collaboration to ensure decisions that enhance peace, development, and progress in the North.

  • Why conducting elections in Nigeria is tough, by ex-INEC Chair

    Why conducting elections in Nigeria is tough, by ex-INEC Chair

    • Yakubu decries multiple litigations, conflicting court orders, violence, connectivity failures

    Immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has listed a number of issues that negatively impact the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

    The former INEC chairman said these include multiple litigations in which the commission is joined; conflicting order of courts of concurrent jurisdiction; violence and vote buying as some of the issues that have posed serious challenges to the smooth conduct of elections and the management of the electoral process in the country.

    In the foreword of a book, titled: Election Management in Nigeria: 2015 to 2025, which chronicles the electoral body under his watch, Yakubu noted that technical challenges with equipment and connectivity failure often pose serious challenges to the system.

    The 220-page book is divided into 11 chapters and was released on the last day of Yakubu’s chairmanship of as INEC.

    Despite the challenges, the erstwhile INEC chairman said the nation’s electoral management body has recorded some milestones in the last 10 years, which should be sustained to build trust and ensure successes in future elections.

    He said: “The decade rom 2015 to 2025 has been one of the most momentous in the history of the management of elections in Nigeria. There have been several milestones, many challenges, and useful lessons in the conduct of elections and the management of the process within this period.

    “Election Management in Nigeria: 2015-2025 is the first, most comprehensive record of these milestones, lessons, and challenges of my two-term tenure.

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    “From the reform of the electoral legal framework (ELF), through to the provision of voter outreach and inclusivity programmes, to the focus on election security, to the deployment of electoral technologies and to stakeholder engagements designed to build confidence and trust in the electoral process, the Commission demonstrated how measured, custom-tailored and forward-looking reforms can be driven by lessons-learnt and peer review processes ultimately meant to improve the conduct of elections and trust in the electoral process.

    “This book presents the reforms and advances made in the development, management and deployment of voting procedures, voter registration, voter management, electoral technologies, relations with political parties and other electoral stakeholders, election security as well as in the planning, monitoring, and implementation of the commission’s election projects and plans.

    “There have been, over the period under review, significant milestones that have dramatically impacted the electoral process.”

    Some of the milestones, Yakubu said, include the introduction of simultaneous accreditation and voting (CAVs); the development and deployment of the  INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) and Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

    It also includes the expansion of voter access to polling units that ended a 25-year-old jinx, transforming polling units in Nigeria from 119,974 to 176,846; the promotion and expansion of inclusivity measures to persons with disability (PwD),  internally displaced persons (IDPs), and to women and the youth.

    There is also the development and deployment of the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal and several other portals to manage the submission of the list of candidates and agents from political parties, election observers, and the media; the deployment of additional technology to facilitate the coordination, planning, monitoring, early warning, and implementation of electoral activities through the EMSC.

    It also includes the expansion of the commission’s role in providing electoral assistance to Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) across the West African Region countries as some of the most significant achievements of the commission in the period under review.

    Yakubu said: “Despite these achievements, the 2015-2025 decade was not without its challenges. Issues, such as multiple litigations, in which the commission is joined, conflicting orders from courts of concurrent jurisdiction, electoral violence as seen in the various attacks on the Commission’s facilities and personnel, vote trading, and the challenge of logistics that led to the postponement of elections since 2011, continue to pose challenges to the smooth conduct of elections and the management of the electoral process.

    “Additionally, technical challenges with equipment and connectivity failures have sometimes hindered the smooth conduct of elections.

    “In response to these challenges, the commission implemented various reforms, including voter education programmes, capacity building for electoral officials, and collaboration with security agencies to ensure the safety of voters and electoral officials, in addition to several policies guiding the development, acquisition and deployment of electoral technology and the management of the electoral process.

    “As the commission looks to the future, the conduct of elections and the management of elections will continue to evolve and present fresh challenges. Such challenges will necessarily either require the consolidation of old or the formulation of new reforms.

    “Lessons from the conduct of elections and the management of the process will necessitate that new lessons be learnt, requiring the tweaking of old, or the introduction of new electoral technologies.

    “The commission must fully embrace both successes and failures, intensify confidence and trust-building measures, expand the drive towards inclusivity and continuously be ahead in addressing potential threats to the conduct of elections and the management of the electoral process. Only in and through these can it ensure the conduct of free, fair, credible and inclusive elections and the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria,” Yakubu added.

  • Mahmood Yakubu’s legacy

    Mahmood Yakubu’s legacy

    • By Precious Shuaibu

    When Professor Mahmood Yakubu assumed office as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in November 2015, Nigeria’s democratic system was at a crossroads. Years of manual operations, logistical breakdowns, and allegations of electoral manipulation had eroded public confidence. To many, INEC was a bureaucracy struggling under the weight of its own inefficiencies. But to Yakubu, it was an institution on the verge of transformation — one that could be modernised through innovation, data, and technology.

    Ten years later, as he stepped down — the first INEC chairman in Nigeria’s history to complete two full terms — his legacy is widely viewed through the lens of the digital revolution that took root under his leadership.

    Yakubu on Tuesday handed over to May Agbamuche-Mbu as successor on an interim basis. In recognition of decade-long legacy at INEC, President Bola Tinubu conferred upon him the befitting national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger.

    As acting chairman, Agbamuche-Mbu inherited an INEC that has undergone one of the most profound technological transformations in its history. Much of that transformation bears the imprint of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, whose years at the helm redefined how elections are conducted, monitored, and perceived in Africa’s largest democracy.

    When Professor Yakubu assumed office in November 2015, Nigeria’s electoral landscape was mired in challenges — logistical inefficiency, accusations of bias, and a pervasive distrust of official results. Yet, for Yakubu, the task was not just to conduct elections, but to reinvent the machinery that made them possible.

    Over the years, he pursued a vision of technology-driven credibility, anchored in the belief that democracy must rest on systems that are transparent, verifiable, and resilient against manipulation. His leadership style blended academic precision with institutional pragmatism, and his reforms would ultimately turn INEC from a manual bureaucracy into a data-driven agency.

    At the heart of Yakubu’s reforms was the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) — a device that became synonymous with Nigeria’s new electoral era. Designed to authenticate voters using both fingerprints and facial recognition, BVAS addressed one of the country’s longest-standing problems: voter impersonation and multiple voting.

    Replacing the old Smart Card Reader, BVAS added a layer of biometric verification that significantly reduced irregularities. It also transmitted accreditation data electronically, linking the number of verified voters directly to the results uploaded from polling units. This innovation drastically curtailed opportunities for result manipulation and established a digital trail for every stage of the process.

    BVAS was first tested during the Anambra State governorship election in November 2021, marking a cautious but ground-breaking departure from traditional methods. The results encouraged broader adoption. By the time Nigeria held its 2023 general elections, BVAS had become the centrepiece of electoral accreditation nationwide, backed by the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

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    Despite isolated technical hitches, BVAS symbolised Yakubu’s commitment to using technology as a bulwark for integrity. It represented the institutionalisation of trust — a message that every vote must count and that every voter must be verified.

    If BVAS strengthened the mechanics of voting, the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) redefined electoral transparency. Launched in 2020, the portal allowed polling unit results to be uploaded in real time and viewed publicly by citizens, journalists, and observers.

    For the first time, Nigerians could monitor their elections live, tracking results as they appeared from even the most remote corners of the country. This digital innovation shattered decades of opacity in the collation process, transforming what had long been a closed-door exercise into a public spectacle of accountability.

    Yakubu often described transparency as “the oxygen of democracy,” and the IReV portal embodied that conviction. Even when technical issues or connectivity gaps arose, the system represented a cultural shift — a move toward open governance in electoral administration.

    Beyond BVAS and IReV, INEC under Yakubu underwent a quiet but sweeping digital overhaul. Several core processes that had once relied on manual inputs were automated. The online candidate nomination portal, for instance, allowed political parties to upload the names and details of their nominees electronically, minimising human interference and reducing disputes.

    Observer accreditation, collation templates, and logistical data management were also digitised. The commission’s adoption of secure digital platforms streamlined its workflow and created a database-driven environment where decisions could be monitored, verified, and audited.

    Another landmark achievement was the institutionalisation of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR). The CVR initiative enabled citizens to register or update their details year-round rather than only before elections. This digital inclusion policy broadened the voter base and enhanced the accuracy of Nigeria’s voter register — now among the largest and most comprehensive in Africa.

    To improve operational efficiency, Yakubu also introduced the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC), a data analytics hub that tracked polling activities in real time. Using dashboards and key performance indicators, the EMSC provided field updates that helped INEC identify and resolve problems promptly during elections. This internal digital infrastructure, though less publicised, became one of the most powerful tools of reform — turning INEC into a responsive, data-literate institution capable of rapid decision-making.

    Yakubu’s vision of reform was not only technological but also humanistic. He believed that innovation should promote inclusion and access. Under his leadership, INEC developed systems to accommodate persons with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women, and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

    Tactile ballot guides were introduced for the visually impaired, while new digital mapping techniques allowed INEC to locate IDP settlements and ensure their participation in elections. These efforts underscored the idea that technology in democracy is most meaningful when it empowers the most vulnerable.

    Yet, the journey was not without obstacles. The 2023 general elections exposed the limits of Nigeria’s digital readiness. Delays in result upload to IReV, network disruptions, and logistical lapses fuelled public frustration. Critics accused the commission of overpromising, while supporters defended the reforms as evolutionary rather than instantaneous.

    Yakubu was candid about the challenges. “Technology is not a magic wand,” he said after the polls. “It is an enabler that requires constant refinement.” He maintained that the real value of innovation lies in its ability to provide traceable evidence — allowing every dispute to be resolved on the basis of data rather than speculation.

    Despite the criticism, independent observers, including the European Union and ECOWAS Election Mission, acknowledged that Nigeria’s elections had become more transparent and technically verifiable than ever before.

    Perhaps Yakubu’s most underappreciated legacy was his defence of INEC’s autonomy. Throughout his decade-long leadership, he faced pressure from powerful political interests but consistently emphasised the commission’s neutrality. His tenure preserved INEC’s independence as a constitutional body, even amid heated national contests.

    Under his watch, INEC expanded polling units for the first time in 25 years, regularised the electoral calendar, and professionalised its staff through training in data management, cyber security, and election technology. The cumulative effect was the birth of an institution that not only conducted elections but also evolved as a learning organisation — one that understood its duty to adapt, innovate, and improve.

    Professor Yakubu’s decade at INEC was not without flaws, but it was undoubtedly transformative. He envisioned a commission that used technology not for show, but as a safeguard — a tool to anchor democracy in transparency and verifiable truth. Today, Nigeria’s electoral process stands on a stronger digital foundation. Voter accreditation is more credible, results are more transparent, and institutions are more accountable. The road ahead will require fine-tuning and resilience, but Yakubu’s legacy has already altered the DNA of election management in Nigeria.

    As one analyst put it, “He did not perfect the system, but he gave it a soul — a digital conscience.”

    •Shuaibu wrote from Abuja.

  • What verdict on Mahmood Yakubu’s decade at INEC?

    What verdict on Mahmood Yakubu’s decade at INEC?

    Like most of his predecessors as chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has been the recipient of acidic criticism over the handling of elections under his watch. He, more than most, having stepped into the saddle against the backdrop of unprecedented political change.

    He was appointed in 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari who, along with his All Progressives Congress (APC), had pulled off the hitherto unthinkable feat of toppling an incumbent president. The losing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to come to terms with its defeat, and spent the last ten years blaming the commission for its woes.

    But that’s understandable given that no one ever loses elections in Nigeria; it’s always down to INEC’s ‘rigging’. Even no-hoppers indulge in this national pastime of blaming the umpire. Way back in the Second Republic, the hapless chairman of the electoral body, retired Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey, famously retorted that he would faint if he saw N1 million in cash. This was in reaction to unending allegations that he and his team had been bought off by the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

    To that extent, no one should be too shocked by the Yakubu-bashing, nor swallow hook, line and sinker ever accusation against the election management team.

    This is not to say that the current commission, or its previous incarnations have delivered perfectly on their mandate. I doubt whether there’s any national institution for which that sort of generous claim can be made. While there’s much to be criticised, sometimes the criticism is way over the top; devoid of the generosity of spirit which acknowledges where progress has been made and innovations introduced.

    Over the last decade, our elections have evolved from the dark days when the primary beneficiary the 2007 election, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, shockingly admitted that the process that threw him up was fundamentally flawed. For all the attempts by the aggrieved to paint the chairman as a devil in professorial garb, no one can say that the Yakubu period ever plumbed the scandalous depths of 18 years ago.

    And that’s saying a lot, given that aside the general elections of 2019 and 2023 the commission under him also managed countless by-elections in that 10-year space. Virtually all parties – from the largest to fringe ones – at some point emerged enjoyed the feeling of being victors: in some instances in places where their triumph was considered an upset.

    A case in point is the narrow defeat of APC and its candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in Lagos, a place long considered his impenetrable fortress. In those instances, the victors would hail the commission to high heavens whilst the losers would curse them to the pits of hell.

    This October, the curtain is set to be drawn on Yakubu’s decade-long leadership. But we must not forget that his tenure was not just about elections, it also involved transforming the institution and reforming the way our polling processes are managed – getting them aligned with global best practices.

    Take away controversies about particular election outcomes and fair-minded persons cannot but admit that the Yakubu years have been transformative. Those with short memory forget that once upon a time ballot box-snatching and other Stone Age malpractices were consequential in determining electoral outcomes.

    Today, with the embrace of technology, much of those abuses have become redundant. So much so that on polling days citizens can now track emerging results from polling units up to ward level and beyond on INEC’s portal same day.

    One key achievement for which his time would be remembered is continuity and institutional stability. This is down to the fact that he’s the commission’s first chairman to have served two consecutive terms. In that period he oversaw the largest number of elections ever conducted in this country – two general elections, 19 governorship polls, hundreds of bye-elections, and three FCT council elections.

    To guarantee enduring institutional memory, he initiated Nigeria’s first Election Museum to preserve the nation’s democratic history. He regularised election dates, creating certainty and predictability. Improved investment in modernised election infrastructure resulted in the building of State Collation Centres across the federation and initiation of a new INEC Headquarters in Abuja.

    You cannot discuss Yakubu’s legacy without talking about the Commission’s embrace of technology. Two key items have become household names in political discourse. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) with fingerprint and facial recognition was introduced in place of the flawed manual processes. Equally, the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) came into being, allowing Nigerians to view polling unit results in real time.

    Technology has also revolutionised voter registration through IVED and ABIS, eliminating 2.7 million fraudulent registrations. Digital portals for candidate nomination, party agent registration, observer accreditation, and media access are now available. In a first on the African continent, INEC has introduced the Artificial Intelligence Division, with an eye on the future of election management.

    Other achievements of the Yakubu tenure include expanding the Voter Roll by institutionalising Continuous Voter Registration (CVR). This has created year-round opportunities for people to register. Since the introduction in 2017, over 23 million new voters have been added.

    In the face of persistent calls for legal and regulatory reforms, the Commission worked with the National Assembly to deliver the landmark Electoral Act 2022, heralding electronic transmission of results and stricter party regulations.

    He would be remembered for making inclusion a core part of his agenda with the establishment of the Department of Gender & Inclusivity to give structure and voice to representation. Quota slots were reserved for women in senior management, breaking long-standing barriers.

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    Also introduced were assistive voting devices like Braille ballots and magnifying lenses. He created and implemented legal frameworks for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to vote, safeguarding rights even in times of crisis. To actually walk his talk, persons with disabilities were hired within INEC.

    Deepening of stakeholder engagement has been achieved through quarterly consultations with political parties, civil society, security agencies, and the media. A Code of Conduct for security personnel on election duty, ensuring professionalism in the field has been introduced. Partnerships with traditional rulers, faith leaders, and the National Peace Committee have contributed to a more peaceful electoral process.

    Yakubu’s impact has been felt in the area of electoral diplomacy and regional leadership. He revived and presided over ECONEC (ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions), positioning Nigeria as a hub of electoral thought leadership. He has also driven solidarity and peer-learning missions across West Africa, providing technical, material, and moral support to sister commissions.

    Demotivated staff can become a danger to electoral credibility as they become vulnerable to manipulation by politicians and parties. Understanding this, the INEC boss has addressed staff development and welfare by introducing merit-based promotions and gender quotas for directors, rewarding excellence; rolled out welfare packages: hazard allowances, bonuses, medical aid, and funeral grants; built a crèche for nursing mothers, supporting staff with young families; instituted Long Service Awards and Staff Recognition Nights.

    As he departs from a seat which many have dubbed a poisoned chalice, INEC’s low key, self-effacing chair can look back with pride at the technology-driven, reform-oriented, and people-focused institution he’s leaving behind. Perhaps with time he will get the credit he deserves for laying the foundation for deeper public trust in the integrity of our elections.

  • A fruitful stewardship

    A fruitful stewardship

    •Mahmood Yakubu’s scorecard at INEC is impressive

    Professor Mahmood Yakubu will in a few weeks be bowing out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after 10 years in the saddle. He makes history as the longest serving helmsman of the electoral body, having been in office for two terms of five years each. He was tapped to the job subject to Senate clearance in November 2015 by the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who also reappointed him to a second tenure in December 2020.

    Yakubu presided over two presidential elections (2019 and 2023), just like his immediate predecessor, Professor Attahiru Jega, who umpired the 2011 and 2015 polls although within a single tenure in his own case.

    Besides the 2019 and 2023 general elections, Yakubu also presided over INEC’s conduct of no fewer than 19 end-of-tenure and off-cycle governorship elections, and more than 300 supplementary polls into legislative houses at both state and national levels. His tenure at INEC is hallmarked by extensive reforms – both in terms of changes to the electoral legal framework and digitisation of the electoral process.

    It is under Yakubu’s leadership that election schedules have become calendared: for instance, national elections are slated for the third Saturday in February of an election year and state elections a fortnight after.

    Following this pattern, the commission has already fixed the dates for the conduct of the next 10 general elections spanning 2027 to 2063. This should help all stakeholders, including political actors and election observers, to plan ahead and work towards better coordination with the electoral commission.

    Among changes to the legal framework under Yakubu, the 2022 Electoral Act amendment has legally enshrined the use of digital tools in the electoral process, unlike the 2010 amendment that did not make that provision and allowed for successful legal challenge of the use of Smart Card Readers by the Jega-led commission in the 2015 general election.

    Retaining permanent voter cards (PVCs) that was introduced by the former commission, Yakubu upscaled the use of technology by way of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a digital device that combines fingerprint and facial recognition in ascertaining the identity of voters before they are allowed to cast their ballots. This has been a game-changer that severely curtailed voter impersonation and multiple voting – tendencies that had plagued the Nigerian electoral system.

    His leadership also introduced the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, an innovative platform that allows the public to track polling unit results as they are uploaded in real time during polls, ahead of collation at constituency levels.

    IReV has been successfully deployed at governorship and other lower constituency polls. It suffered a glitch during the 2023 presidential election, however, and the attendant controversy is the lowest point of Yakubu’s tenure at INEC. But its backup protected the election’s integrity.

    The electoral body under Yakubu has also fully moved online nomination of candidates by political parties, applications by political associations to be registered as parties, as well as application for accreditation as election observers by observer groups and journalists, among other processes.

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    Another major stride of Yakubu’s leadership at INEC is the facilitation of increased access of voters to the polls. Hitherto, creation of additional polling units was a political hot button that compelled the previous commission to make do with splitting unduly large centres among the 119,973 polling units created in 1996 into sub-units known as voting points.

    Yakubu, however, managed to pull off transforming those voting points into autonomous units, leaving the country with 176,846 polling units that were operated for the 2023 general election. The size of the voter register has also swelled from some 68.83million registrants that Yakubu inherited in 2015 to 93.5million registrants on roll before the 2023 general election.

    Since 2023, there has also been continuous voter registration on a standardised – as opposed to previously ad hoc – basis that has brought millions more voters onto the register. The flip side, though, is that the ballooning voter roll has also translated into dwindling percentage turnout of voters, because increasing voter population that is not matched by proportionately increasing quantum turnout at elections only shows up as inverse percentage turnout.

    A monument to Yakubu’s shortfall in office, however, is his failure to usher in electronic voting in Nigeria’s electoral system.

    Perhaps the strongest point of Yakubu’s leadership at INEC was his entry point. He consolidated on the achievements of the Jega commission and didn’t go reinventing the wheel, and was thus able to tremendously improve the performance of the commission, more so with the advantage of time that he had.

    Like his predecessor, the outgoing INEC boss comported himself with civilised restraint in the face of virulent criticisms. This has helped to keep political temperature on the leash and allowed no manoeuvring room for mischievous inciters; and naturally, the country has been better for it.

  • How will history remember INEC Chair Yakubu?

    How will history remember INEC Chair Yakubu?

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, will bow out next month after two terms of 10 years. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines how the electoral agency has fared under the umpire.

    Mahmood Yakubu, Professor of Political History and International Studies, and chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stands before the mirror of history.

    What is discernable from the reflector? Opinion may be divided.

    To many Nigerians, particularly voters, he is a patriotic, transparent and impartial umpire; a reformist, visionary, innovator, pacesetter and sanitiser; a courageous, dynamic and diligent worker, a principled referee and perceptive scholar, and a disciplined public servant who has defended the ballot box and upheld  democracy and the rule of law  in national interest.

    To a section of the opposition, particularly desperate politicians, serial losers who lack the internal locus of control, and subjective critics and collaborators in the “pull him down scheme,” there is no pass mark.

    But in the final analysis, history is the ultimate judge -the final arbiter – and its verdict will be incontrovertible.

    As Yakubu bows out of office after 10 years in the saddle, the challenge is getting another man or woman of exemplary character who can build on his imperishable legacy.

    From independence to date, Nigeria has produced 13 chief electoral officers – Sir Kofo Abayomi (1959-1964), Eyo Esua (1964-1966), Chief Michael Ani (1976-1979), Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey (1980-1983), Prof. Eme Awa (1987-1989), Prof. Hum ohrey Nwosu (1989-1993), Prof. Okon Uya (1993), Summer Dagogo-Jack (1994-1998), Justice Ephraim Akpata (1998-2000), Dr. Abel Guobadia (2000-2005), Prof. Maurice Iwu (2005-2010), Prof. Attahiru Jegs (2010-2015 and Yakubu (2015-3025).

    To date, Yakubu is the longest serving INEC chairman, and to that extent, the most experienced. Also, the challenges that have confronted his predecessors paled into insignificance in the face of increasing political consciousness, renewed agitations for the sanctity of the electoral process, sabotage by few unethical staff, inclination towards manipulation by the political class, and global clamour for best electoral practices.

    According to analysts, election has been a nightmare in Nigeria from the First Republic. Rigging, irregularity, subversion of procedure, manipulation by candidates and political parties, logistic problems and lack of technology created a deep hollow in the score card of the electoral agency.

    Avoidable mistakes, including missing voter register, late coming for electoral duty, incompetent staffing, late announcement of results that led to suspence, doctoring or fslsification of figures, and violence have led to result disputation or outright rejection. Thus, the contest often shifted from the polling booths to courts.

    When he assumed the reins, Yakubu promised to make a difference. There were puzzles: Will the past mistakes be corrected? Will card readers work? Will INEC staff report for duty promptly? Will the electoral agency conduct a credible poll?

    Yakubu is not a friend of politicians. Bold and brave, he also resisted undue political influence, always bent on discharging his duties without fear or favour. His goal is the integrity of the electoral process, being guided by the constitution and the electoral act. When it is required, Yakubu has been sensitive to public mood. He has been swift to cancel and postpone polls when disaster loomed. On those few occasions, he owned up to certain flaws and apologised to the nation.

    Never willing to allow the commission to operate from the armpit any power-loaded President, he is privileged not to be at the helm of affairs in those days of do-or-die, reminiscent of Obasanjo era, when losers were declared winner by Returning Officers. No favouritism. No preferential treatment. No higher or lower bidder. INEC regulation under Yakubu became a leveller.

    Stiff resistance to undue influence by the ruling and opposition parties have marked him out as an unbiased referee. Thus, when he issues commands, parties can only ignore the guidelines to their peril.

    The greatest mark of INEC under the leadership of Yakubu is its respect for the rule of law. The electoral body is never at a cross road. At critical moments, the commission escaped inter-party cross-fires by taking solace in legal compass. Through its consistent obedience to court orders, INEC has demonstrated the quality of a democratic institution worthy of pride and emulation.

    Two incidents have attested to Yakubu’s firmness as the boss. Due to internal squabbles, the All Progressives Congress (APC) mismanaged its governorship primary in Zamfara State. The troubled chapter failed to submit the name of its candidate and running mate before the deadline. The two ‘factions’ led by Governor Abdulazeez Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa were working at cross purpose. They also underrated INEC. But, following the expiration of the deadline for submission of candidates’ list, INEC wielded the big stick. Yakubu told Nigerians that the chapter has forfeited the chance to participate in the poll. In its view, the Zamfara APC did not hold primary for the selection of a flag bearer.

    Reflecting on the verdict, the former national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said although the agency was unfair to APC, the party has decided to abode by its decision.

    The Rivers State chapter of the APC also failed to learn from the Zamfara mistake. The two camps, led by Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe, failed to put their house in order. The genesis of the imbroglio was the party’s rancorous parallel congresses for the election of party officers. Two parallel leadership emerged in the state. During the parallel primaries, two candidates – Abe and Tonye Cole – also emerged. Both headed for the court. Following the chapter’s inability to meet the deadline, INEC applied the hammer, denying the two factional candidates due recognition. Yakubu explained that, following the breach of the guidelines on deadline, the chapter will not field candidate for the governorship election.

    However, the chairman clarified that, since the two factional contenders for the ticket have gone to the court, he would wait for the outcome. INEC was vindicated by the position it had taken. The Supreme Court verdict implied that Rivers APC conducted its primaries in error, having violated the previous order of the lower court barring it from conducting the exercise.

    The lessons are twofold. Since the consequence of violation of internal democracy by parties is known, their leadership have to take precautions. Also, INEC’s firm and principled position on primaries restored discipline.

    A ‘no-nonsense’ chairman, Yakubu has also tried to maintain discipline in INEC. He told reporters in Lagos that the bad eggs who had dented the name of the commission would be sent packing. To demonstrate its commitment to rid the commission of bad elements, some unscrupulous INEC workers were tried and convicted for aiding and abetting rigging. It was a signal that an agency that can surrender its staff for trial will not spare any politician or Nigerian who perpetuate electoral fraud.

    Leadership and institutional stability

    Yakubu was twice appointed, becoming the first INEC Chairman in history to serve two consecutive terms, thereby embodying continuity and stability. He supervised the largest number of elections ever conducted in Nigeria, including two general election of 2019 and 2023), 19 governorship polls, hundreds of by-elections, and three FCT Council polls  Yakubu has built an enduring institutional memory, commissioning policy papers, reviews, and initiating Nigeria’s first election museum to preserve the nation’s democratic history.

    Strengthening electoral administration

    INEC under his tenure has regularised election dates, thereby creating certainty and predictability for citizens, parties, and observers. He has also expanded polling units for the first time in 25 years — from 119,974 to 176,846 —, widening voter access and reducing congestion.

    The commision has modernised election infrastructure, built state Collation Centres across the federation and initiated a new INEC Headquarters in Abuja. It has introduced the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) — a sophisticated hub tracking more than 1,000 indicators to ensure timely planning and coordination.

    Technological  breakthroughs

    INEC under the outgoing chairman has delivered the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and replaced the flawed manual processes with fingerprint and facial recognition. He has unveiled the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), which now enables Nigerians to view polling unit results live. The move, according to ovservers, has strengthened transparency and rekindled public confidence in the commission.

    The voter registration has been revolutionalised through IVED and ABIS. This has eliminated 2.7 million fraudulent registrations. INEC has also launched digital portals for candidate nomination, party agent registration, observer accreditation, and media access. Of importance also is the fact that Yakuku ensured that INEC became the first election body in Africa to establish an Artificial Intelligence Division, in preparation for the future of election management.

    Expanding the Voter Roll

    The chairman institutionalised the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) from 2017, giving Nigerians year-round opportunities to register. Now, over 23 million new voters have been added across two general election. Apart from introducing online pre-registration portals which empowers voters to transfer, update, or replace their voter cards with ease, INEC has published detailed voter demographics by age, gender, occupation, and disability. This is setting a new standard for transparency.

    Legal and regulatory reforms

    INEC had partnered with the National Assembly to birth the landmark Electoral Act 2022, heralding electronic transmission of results and stricter party regulations. The commission produced comprehensive guidelines and manuals, giving consistency to the conduct of elections. It also deregistered 74 under-performing political parties, thereby streamlining the political space from 92 to 18 active platforms.

    Inclusivity

    Under Yakubu, the electoral agency stablished the Department of Gender and Inclusivity to give structure and voice to representation. It reserved quota slots for women in senior management, breaking long-standing barriers.The commission also introduced voting devices — from Braille ballots to magnifying lenses — ensuring no Nigerian is left behind, and created and implemented legal frameworks for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to vote, which safeguards human rights even in times of crisis. In fact, INEC also employed persons with disabilities, underscoring its belief in inclusivity.

    Stakeholder engagement

    Yakubu has institutionalised quarterly consultations with political parties, civil society, security agencies, and the media. He introduced a Code of Conduct for security personnel on election duty, which ensures professionalism on the field. He has also strengthened partnerships with traditional rulers, faith leaders, and the National Peace Committee, embedding peace into the electoral process. The chairman has facilitated an enhanced communication through INEC News Online, daily press briefings, and far-reaching voter education campaigns.

    Electoral diplomacy and regional leadership

    Yakubu has taken Nigeria to the world electoral map. He revived and presided over the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), a move that has positioned Nigeria as a hub of electoral thought leadership.

    Besides, he has led solidarity and peer-learning missions across West Africa, providing technical, material, and moral support to sister commissions.

    In recognition of his modelling leadership, he was honoured by Liberia’s National Electoral Commission (2023) for his outstanding contribution to electoral development. Yakubu also represented Nigeria at global forums from Washington to Berlin, London to Nairobi. These activities have amplified Nigeria’s democratic profile worldwide.

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    Staff development and welfare

    The chairman Introduced merit-based promotions and gender quotas for directors, thus rewarding excellence. Under him, five INEC staff were elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), a landmark recognition of internal talent. It means that they were very productive because of the conducive atmosphere he provided.

    Yakubu rolled out welfare packages, including hazard allowances, bonuses, medical aid, and funeral grants. He built an INEC Creche last year for nursing mothers. It was a declaration of support for staff with young families. To boost morale, he also instituted Long Service Awards and Staff Recognition Nights, honouring the backbone of INEC’s success — its people.

    Lasting legacy

    Yakubu has positioned INEC as a technology-driven, reform-oriented, and people-focused institution. He has deepened public trust in the integrity of elections, elevated Nigeria’s status as a regional leader in electoral governance and diplomacy, and cemented reforms that will endure, ensuring future generations inherit a freer, fairer, and more credible democracy.

    As a commentator said:  “Yakubu’s decade-long leadership was not just about elections, but about transformation.

    He leaves behind an INEC that is stronger, smarter, and closer to the people than ever before.”

    Unified business

    At a conference in Abuja, Yakubu was inundated with complaints about vote buying that had characterised recent elections. INEC lacks the ability, skill and competence to stop it.

    The factors that encourage the menace are impunity and poverty. Acknowledging the complaints, the chairman said some politicians are fond of inducing voters with money tucked in slices of bread on election days, urging the country to break the chain of voters’ inducement through legislation.

    Security agencies, at the instance of INEC, are now more vigilant during the electioneering to fish out those who may be involved in voting commercialisation.

    Decrying vote buying, Yakubu said it denies the people of credible representation and exposes the country to ridicule before the international community. “Vote buying is not acceptable. It must never be allowed to define our elections. It is illegal and morally wrong,” he added.

    Yakubu has been at the forefront of the struggle for the passage of the ‘Electoral Offences Tribunal Bill’ into law, as recommended by the electoral reforms committee headed by Justice Mohamed Uwais, Lemu and Senator Ken Nnamani. His argument is that the trial of electoral offenders in regular courts may take time as the courts are also busy with other cases.

  • Ten years and Mahmood Yakubu’s legacy at INEC

    Ten years and Mahmood Yakubu’s legacy at INEC

    On the 9th of December, 2025, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, a Professor of Political History and International Studies with specialisation in military and political history with emphasis on Nigeria and African political history and revolutionary movements, among others will take a bow after ten years of service to the nation as head of the biggest electoral body on the African continent. In this review, TONY AKOWE examines some of his achievements in the last ten years.

    When Prof Mahmood Yakubu was first appointed the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria had huge expectations, especially coming immediately after the 2015 general election, which marked the first time power was transitioning from a ruling party at the national level to the opposition. Atahiru Jega, a Professor of Political Science and former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, had just stepped down as head of the electoral body, leaving Amina Bala Zakari, the most senior National Commissioner at that time, to lead in acting capacity. Yakubu, who had served as Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, was found worthy of the large shoes left behind by Jega. Following his screening and eventual clearance by the Senate as provided for in the establishment act of the commission, Yakubu was sworn in by the late former President Muhammadu Buhari on the 9th of November, 2015, to begin his first five years as Chairman of the Commission. Not many thought he would go on to make history as the first Nigerian to oversee two general elections. Even fewer people thought he would be remembered for steering Nigeria’s electoral system into the digital age.

    On completion of his first five years, he was reappointed for a second term of five years by the President, cleared by the Senate and sworn in on the 9th December 2020 for another term of five years.

    He became the first INEC Chairman to be appointed for a second term in the history of the commission. Today, across the country, there is a debate over his tenure. But one achievement stands out above all, and that is the introduction of technology into the heart of Nigeria’s voting process.

    For the record, aside from Attahiru Jega (2011 and 2015), Yakubu is the only INEC Chairman who has conducted two Presidential elections (2019 and 2023). He also conducted about 19 end of tenure and off cycle governorship elections in Edo (3), Ondo (3), Anambra (3 including the November 11, 2025 elections), Kogi (2), Ekiti (2), Osun (2), Imo (1) and Bayelsa (3) as well as over 300 supplementary elections into legislative houses at both the state and national level.

    One of Prof Yakubu’s achievements in his ten years in charge of the nation’s electoral system is bringing stability to the conduct of elections in the country. Before his appointment, the dates for the general election were not regular. Nigerians were not always certain that elections would take place on the appointed date. But this changed as he regularised the dates of general elections and FCT Area Council Elections, with the general election now holding on the third Saturday in February of the election year for the Presidential and National Assembly Elections, and two weeks later for the Governorship and State Assembly Elections.

    This has made it possible for all stakeholders to plan well ahead of time and ensure better coordination and readiness by the Commission, Improved Voting Procedure and Expansion of Voter Access to Polling Units. Interestingly, following this pattern, the commission has already fixed the dates for the conduct of the next ten general elections spanning from 2027 to 2063 and introduced the Continuous Accreditation and Voting System (CAVS), which replaced the cumbersome practice where accredited voters had to wait for a longer time before casting their votes, which was used in previous elections. This simplified the voting procedure and addressed the potential disenfranchisement of voters, while also expanding access to voting by creating additional polling units across the country.

    While 84 million Nigerians had access to a polling unit and voting in 2019, the figure rose to about 93 million during the 2023 general election. In the same vein, the 119,973 polling units created in 1996 remained in force until Yakubu carried out the delineation of fresh constituencies, increasing them to 176,846 polling units, which were used in the 2023 elections. The Commission holds the largest database of Nigerians.

    In 2021, during the Anambra governorship election, Nigerians first encountered the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). Designed to replace the Smart Card Reader, which had been in use and generated several controversies, the BVAS combined fingerprint and facial recognition to confirm voters’ identities. Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, described the BVAS as a game-changer, saying, “It has drastically reduced multiple voting and ballot stuffing. For the first time, we saw technology limiting what politicians could do with raw power.”

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    Two years earlier, Yakubu’s INEC had unveiled another innovation: the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), which allowed Nigerians to see polling unit results uploaded in real time, long before they were collated at state or national centres. This was used in the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. With the IReV, people across the globe could follow the election results on their phones. Analysts believe that a singular act boosted confidence in the system, even if later challenges slowed the momentum.

    In spite of his achievements, Yakubu’s tenure has not been without controversy. The 2023 general elections, though relatively peaceful, have come under serious criticism for delays in uploading the results of the Presidential election to the IReV portal. Despite the explanation of technical hitches during the elections, many accuse the commission of deliberately frustrating the system. Others have raised allegations of manipulation during collation. Those who accused the commission consistently said that the commission refused to adopt electronic transmission of results, even when the commission tried to make them understand that transmission and collation mean two different things.

    Senator Dino Melaye, who was the PDP agent during the coalition of the 2023 Presidential election results, led this group of people. One opposition party official who would not want to be named told The Nation that “the technology (IReV) was sound, but the human element failed.”

    While critics accused INEC of betraying public trust, defenders argued that Yakubu’s reforms had set the stage for deeper institutional change. However, we cannot run away from the fact that Prof Yakubu changed the narratives of how elections are conducted in Nigeria. With the Electoral Act 2022 enshrining electronic accreditation and result transmission into law, the reforms are now bigger than any one individual. An INEC official said, “Prof. Yakubu may not have delivered perfection, but he ensured Nigeria can never fully return to the old ways of writing results in hotel rooms.”

     The Yakubu Commission built a more efficient, comprehensive and predictive EMSC dashboard that reports over 1,000 election monitoring indicators and integrates all the Commission’s election monitoring tools, comprising the Election Management System (EMS), the Election Operation Support Centre (EOSC), the Electoral Risk Management Tool (ERM) and the INEC Security Alert and Notification System. Interestingly, he will be leaving behind a large stock of institutional memory for future Commissions. These include several reports, position and policy papers. Most importantly, he will establish the first Election Museum in the country to preserve the rich, but checkered history of electoral management in Nigeria. Under his leadership, the Commission enforced the constitutional requirements for registration and deregistration of political parties based on their compliance with extant rules and regulations. On 6th February 2021, INEC, acting under its powers as contained in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), deregistered 74 political parties, reducing the number of political parties in Nigeria to 18. However, the Youth Party was restored by Court Order in July 2019, bringing the number of political parties in Nigeria to 19

    Rafsanjani said the INEC chairman came into the saddle at a very critical time in Nigeria’s electoral landscape and has inspired many Nigerians to believe in the commission, particularly before 2023. He said, “Under his leadership, he inspired many Nigerians to believe in INEC, particularly before the 2023 elections. He actually put in place a system that will guarantee electoral transparency by introducing technology in the electoral process. The BVAS and IREV are two of the initiatives aimed at ensuring electoral transparency and to also make Nigerians believe in the electoral system in the country.”

     Rafsanjani told The Nation that Yakubu had put in place a system that would guarantee more electoral transparency by introducing technology in elections. The BVAS introduced by the Yakubu-led commission is one of the new initiatives aimed at ensuring electoral transparency and to also make Nigerians believe in the electoral system in the country.

    He said, “He has done all that, but he has also met with so many challenges, the usual challenges of logistics and the usual suspicion that many Nigerians are having, especially after the 2023 elections. Now, we need to build on the success that he has built in terms of ensuring that the National Assembly legislates to ensure that the use of technology is part of our law and not at the discretion of INEC. You see what the Supreme Court has done, almost trying to say that technology is not really necessary because it is not in the law. But if you have them embedded in the law, it would be difficult for anybody to give an excuse. We need to invest more in Nigerians to believe in our electoral process because, under democracy, that is the only option we have to organize free, fair and credible elections. If elections are not free, fair and credible, many Nigerians will run away and will not be happy to participate in the electoral process. You will record more apathy if the process is not transparent and if people have no confidence in it, and if rigging and use of dirty money continues”.

    While agreeing with the fact that the Yakubu-led leadership has contributed largely to deepening the electoral landscape, Rafsanjani believes that the commission and the electoral system in the country would be better if there is political party reform. This is, however, one of the areas that the Commission has continued to seek the support of Nigerians and the parliament. For example, the Mahmood Yakubu-led commission has been advocating for the establishment of an electoral offences commission and tribunal to handle electoral infractions. Though many Nigerians have joined in this agitation, the bill seeking to establish the commission failed to sail through the 9th Assembly, though it was passed by the Senate. Consideration of the bill was stepped down by the House for identified errors, which were never corrected, and the bill, which was reintroduced in the 10th Assembly, has remained largely unattended.

    Also, the commission under the outgoing Chairman has advocated the establishment of the Political Party Registration and Regulatory Commission to handle affairs of the political parties, so that INEC can concentrate on electoral matters.

    Rafsanjani said, “We need to have political party reforms in this country because if the political parties are not really meeting the aspirations of Nigerians, then it becomes difficult for Nigerians to participate in the process because under our constitution, there is no provision for independent candidates. Therefore, we need to make sure that political parties work. We cannot continue to run a political party like a personal property. We need to make sure that there is participation of members, there is ownership by the members and that there is an opportunity for the members to freely express their interest, participate and be part of whatever the political party is doing. That’s the only way you can actually have political parties that respect internal democracy and respect the wishes of the people. You cannot come and contest elections under a particular political party and then, without consulting the members, you just walk away. We need to reform political parties to make them more accountable, to make them more participatory and to make the Nigerian people own those parties.

    He recalled the practice in the first and second republics when Nigerians owned the parties by paying membership dues, saying, “When you pay membership dues, it makes you feel that you are actually a member and you have every right to know what is going on. As it is now, the political party has been hijacked by people with dirty money, by people in power and by people who are just merchants of intimidation. We have seen politicians bringing thugs to party primaries. This is not how to run a political party. And this can only work if we really improve our political party system and functioning. Then you can have a better election. When you have bad political parties, you have no option then to choose the candidate from one of the bad political parties. So Nigerians should have an option, should have the opportunity to have a party. And this idea of trying to coerce Nigerians to have a one-party system in the country is not helping democracy and is not helping our constitutional democracy. Therefore, we need to make sure that we carry out those reforms”.

    Available records revealed that since his first appointment in 2015, Yakubu has put in place many measures to ensure party supremacy and internal party democracy.

    Also, Ezenwa Nwagwu, Executive Director of the Peers Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), believes that the contribution of Yakubu and his team to the Nigerian electoral process has been phenomenal. He said, “They consolidated on the gains made by their predecessor, Prof Jega, by infusing some aspects of our electoral process with technology. Indeed, the most enduring for the Mahmood Yakubu commission will be the introduction of over 20 new technological innovations, most notably, which will be the Bimodal Verification and Authentication System (BVAS) machine, and the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) Portal.”

    Nwagwu, who also heads the Civil Society Situation Room on elections believes that the BVAS has substantially reduced voter identification theft, adding that “today, Nigeria’s election results are available for researchers and interested parties in the cloud. Subsequently, the Mahmood Commission gave the country the most politically diverse legislature since the return to democracy in 1999, with close to 40% opposition political parties in the House of Representatives and 20% in the Senate in the 2023 General elections.  Also, in the same election, 7 (seven) incumbent governors lost elections to come to the national assembly. It can’t be lost on anyone that the incumbent president during the 2023 elections, who appointed Professor Mahmood Yakubu, lost his state of origin, residence and workplace to the opposition in 2023. As his tenure comes to a close, he could have done better with public issues management and political communication”.

  • INEC implementing recommendations of international election observers, says Yakubu

    INEC implementing recommendations of international election observers, says Yakubu

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission is implementing the recommendations of international election observation missions to improve future elections in the country.

    The INEC chairman spoke at a meeting with members of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), who are in Nigeria for a follow-up on the implementation of recommendations by the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM) following the last general election.

    The team is led by the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia, Mrs. Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, who is also the Head of the Post-Election Mission to Nigeria.

    Yakubu hailed ECOWAS for partnering ECONEC in deploying follow-up missions to member-countries, led by a chairperson of an electoral commission.

    He said: “Nigeria has participated in many of these missions.

    “In April this year, just three months ago, I was involved in a similar mission to the Republic of Gambia together with my colleague from Sierra Leone and some of the election experts present today.

    “Today, it is our turn to host our colleagues from Liberia and Ghana, leading a team of international election experts. In this sense, today’s mission is a routine practice but very critical to electoral democracy in our region.”

    He noted that election observation missions always make their findings and recommendations public, while also deploying follow-up missions on the implementation of their recommendations.

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    Yakubu said: “The commission is glad that ECOWAS, which deployed both long-term and short-term EOM, recognises that an election is a multi-stakeholder responsibility.

    “Consequently, for Nigeria’s 2023 General Election, it made 37 recommendations for consideration by seven critical institutions and stakeholders in the electoral process. Of these recommendations, 13 are addressed to INEC while 24 require action by other institutions and stakeholders such as the National Assembly, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), civil society organisations, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and political parties under the auspices of their umbrella body, the Nigeria Inter-Party Advisory Council (PAC).

    Yakubu announced that the Follow-up Mission would interact with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

    Mrs. Browne-Lansanh said the joint post-2023 election follow-up and needs assessment mission to Nigeria was a peer-to-peer review of the team’s presence in Nigeria during the 2023 elections, but more importantly, the recommendations that we offered, which were outlined in a report of our visit here.

  • When fake patriots peddle conspiracy theories against INEC

    When fake patriots peddle conspiracy theories against INEC

    • By Oluwaferanmi Ayinde

    Serial parochial and hypocritical criticisms of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, have become the pastime of some self-serving moralists, masquerading as patriots and opposition leaders. But their motive is nowhere near patriotism, only a desperate call for invitation to the “national dining table.” Their modus operandi is simple: give INEC a bad name to hang it. Thankfully, they are failing.

    I was amused when the former Director of the Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi in a recent interview he granted a national television outfit, said that the All Peoples Congress (APC) wouldn’t have won the 2015 Presidential Election if Prof. Yakubu had been in charge of INEC. Remember that Amaechi was also a former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation.

    The immediate question is, who was in charge of INEC in 2019, when Amaechi’s principal, former President Buhari contested and won that year’s presidential election? Was it not Prof Yakubu? Could Amaechi have forgotten his role as Buhari’s Director General of Campaign for that election so soon? Not likely. After Buhari was declared winner at the time, Amaechi had no issues at all with either INEC or its Chairman. To him, that election was free and fair. Thereafter, he went about appealing to other contestants in the race to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship, concede defeat and join hands with the winner to take Nigeria forward. In fact, at a press briefing he held on March 5, 2019, Amaechi, among other things, said: “It is only those who fail elections that gather for meetings, while the winners just gather to pop champagne and drink to their victory.” That was how sweet the victory of his party and candidate in the 2019 polls felt for him.

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    Fast forward to 2023. Amaechi wanted to be President, which is fair enough.  He participated in the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential primary election but lost. INEC did not conduct the election. But since then, for reasons best known to him, Amaechi became a turncoat of some sort, transforming into a bitter critic of INEC and its Chairman.

    Many subjective supporters of the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have also continued to delude themselves by insisting that they both won the 2023 presidential election that they knew they did not win. Even after their parties lost at the Supreme Court, they have continued to denigrate INEC on social media. Not only that, they have also continued to berate the judiciary, with some of them labeling the Supreme Court Justices as “compromised jurists.”  There is no name and conspiracy theory they have not peddled to tarnish Prof Yakubu’s image. But to their utter disappointment, he has refused to respond to their antics and to be drawn into their pits.

    I agree that the 2023 general election was not perfect. In any case, who can show me one country in the world where perfect elections are conducted? Not even in the United States, the so-called bastion of democracy where we copied our presidential system from. The memory of the 2020 presidential election controversy, which led to what analysts have described as an instigated but failed insurrection is still very fresh. 

    An objective assessment of INEC’s trajectory since 2015, devoid of petty sentiments, will reveal positive developments which, unfortunately in my view, have been grossly under-reported. In contrast to what the modern-day Pharisees have been saying, I think the 2023 general elections, comprising the presidential, national assembly, governorship, and state assembly sets, met the required threshold of substantial compliance, meaning they were free, fair, and credible. 

    I have my reasons. The election produced several firsts. For the first time since 1999, four political parties won governorship seats, unlike in the past when only two political parties dominated the scene. Seven parties won senatorial seats, while eight parties secured federal constituencies. Nine parties also won seats in the State Assembly, paving the way for unprecedented diversity in the national and state legislatures.

    Since 2015, when Prof. Mahmood Yakubu took office, several innovations and milestones that would stand the test of time have been implemented. One of the technological innovations is the multi-purpose Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which replaced the Smart Card Reader (SCR) after it became clear that fraudulent politicians had found a way to circumvent the SCR. That singular action effectively ended voting by proxy, leading to the subsequent widespread dumping of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in forests and shrines by those who had warehoused them for election rigging purposes. It also led to a spike in vote buying, as it became clear to politicians that only real voters could cast a valid vote in an election.

    Under Prof. Yakubu, there has been a massive expansion of voter access to polling units. For the first time in 25 years, the total number of polling units in Nigeria increased from 119,974 to 176,846. Also, for the first time, the Commission introduced an online voter registration portal, which enabled voters aged 18 and above to log on to the Commission’s portal, upload their information, and validate their registration at designated centres. Approximately 9.5 million new voters registered between June 2021 and July 2022, increasing the National Register to its current figure of 93,469,008.

    The Commission was the first Electoral Management Body (EMB) in Africa to produce a Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of COVID-19 in 2020, a year when the world was reeling from the devastating effects of the virus. The policy enabled the Commission to conduct several elections safely during the pandemic.

    There was also the enactment of a new Electoral Act 2022, which the Commission vigorously campaigned for with the assistance of civil society. Among other things, the new Electoral Act made it possible for the Commission to receive its funds for the general election one year in advance, just as it was given the power to review the result of an election in a situation where a Returning Officer was forced to declare the wrong person as the winner.

    The INEC Result Viewing (IReV), established by the Commission to promote transparency in the result management process and provide citizens with the opportunity to view polling unit results in real time, was a game-changer. Despite the unexpected glitch that temporarily froze the portal during the 2023 Presidential election and which was quickly rectified, the IReV, which is not a result collation outfit, has given citizens more insight into the election result management architecture than ever before.

    The Commission has also made significant gains in inclusivity matters. In recognition of the importance attached to the interests of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), the Commission created a separate Department of Gender and Inclusivity to address the needs of persons in extraordinary circumstances, enabling them to participate actively in the electoral process. Through this route, the Commission has reconfigured its polling booths, provided magnifying glasses for individuals living with albinism, and braille guides for persons with visual challenges, among others.

    There are many more. It is thus unfortunate that professional naysayers would, due to purely selfish interests, continue to push destructive narratives, reckless statements, lies and conspiracy theories in a determined effort to destroy one of the foundations of democracy in Nigeria. They are bound to fail.

    • Dr Ayinde, an entrepreneur, lives in Uyo.
  • INEC chair challenges African youths on election roles

    INEC chair challenges African youths on election roles

    Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu  has challenged African youths to be at the forefront of promoting peaceful and credible elections across the continent.

    Yakubu said   youths must actively engage in the electoral process with a positive mindset, shunning electoral malpractices and upholding democratic values.

    He gave the charge while delivering a lecture on “Democracy and Peaceful Elections in West Africa” to students of International Affairs and Diplomacy and   Peace and Conflict Studies at the Civil Service University,    Republic of The Gambia.

    He highlighted the  roles of young people in the electoral processes, stressing that elections in Africa cannot succeed without their  participation.

    While noting  that young people form the backbone of election officials,  Yakubu said Election Management Bodies (EMBs) lack the manpower to conduct elections without recruiting the youth  as temporary or ad hoc staff members.

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      “Before the elections, they are involved in voter registration, one of the most critical stages of the electoral cycle. It is a duty that must be undertaken with sincerity, patriotism, and a sense of responsibility,” he said.

    The INEC boss  urged the youth  to be upright and law-abiding, saying: “If you want peaceful elections, play your part for God and country. Do the right thing. Obey the laws and regulations. That’s how we make every vote count.”

    He also drew attention to the role of youths as political party agents, cautioning against misrepresenting facts or feeding political stakeholders with false information. 

      Yakubu warned against the spread of fake news, particularly during election periods.

    He said:”don’t be among the fake news merchants. If it’s not verified, don’t share it. As citizen reporters, you have a duty to report elections truthfully and responsibly

    “This is the system we have chosen. It is ours to nurture, defend, and improve. Every young African must play a role in deepening and strengthening democratic institutions.”