Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the dismissal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and other officials of the commission at all levels.
Obasanjo said their exit would serve as part of a reform of the electoral process in Nigeria.
Aside from Mr Obasanjo, other Nigerians present at the event included Peter Obi, the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, and former Minister Oby Ezekwesili.
He 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 famous 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, Mr. Obasanjo described the 2023 general election as a “travesty”, adding that the reform of the electoral system is a key agenda for the country.
He said: “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….
“The INEC Chairperson must not only be absolutely above board but must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.”
According to Obasanjo, who governed Nigeria as civilian President from 1999 to 2007, 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.
He said: “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.”
The IReV platform was central to post-election litigation, but these cases were dismissed by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the Supreme Court.
Yakubu was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and was reappointed in 2020 for a further five-year tenure until 2025.
