Remove INEC Chairman from office – Agbakoba urges Tinubu

Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, has advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, must leave office by resignation or removal.

He said this on Thursday in a statement while congratulating Tinubu for suspending the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Chairman of Economic, Financial Crime Commission, Abdurasheed Bawa, fuel subsidy and foreign exchange corruption.

According to him, after dismantling CBN, EFCC, fuel subsidy and others, the next thing is the INEC.

“Full congratulations go to President Tinubu for getting rid of Emefiele and Bawa, 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 that the suggested reforms have nothing to do with the merits of election results. Both winners and losers of the elections were victims of the failure of INEC. A deep cleansing of INEC will enhance confidence in Nigeria’s democracy”, he stated.

In less than three weeks upon inauguration as president, Tinubu has embarked on a number of reforms including the unification of foreign exchange, signing of Students Loan Act and Data Protection Act.