Mahmood Yakubu said that he quit the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) so that a new head could be chosen by the commissi...
.jpg "We introduced several innovations: Mahmood Yakubu discusses leaving INEC as chairman.")
Mahmood Yakubu said that he quit the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) so that a new head could be chosen by the commission.
Mr. Yakubu stepped down on Tuesday and named Ms. May Agbamuche-Mbu, a national commissioner, as the acting Chairman of the commission.
While the commission was having its usual meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) at INEC headquarters in Abuja, the short handover took place. Yakubu said that stepping down would also make it easier for the person who would be in charge to get right to work on running the elections and other activities related to them.
He said that because he had been on the commission for 10 years, he knew how hard the tasks ahead would be. He only had a few weeks left to serve. "I made a choice and told them about it as required by Section 36, Subsections 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended."
"For the time being, I'm handing over to one of the most senior national commissioners by appointment date."
"Ms. May Agbamuchembu will serve as acting chairman of the commission until a permanent chairman is chosen, after consulting with other national commissioners." I hope this gives the people in charge of hiring enough time to find a new head.
He also said, "It will also help the new chairman get right to work on running elections and other election-related activities in Africa's most demographically and logistically difficult area."
The president thanked the members of the committee and the RECs for getting along so well at work.
He said that he had worked with 24 national commissioners and 67 RECs since 2015. He said that he would always be grateful for the help of all the secretaries and staff of INEC across the country.
"Together, we came up with new ideas and handled the commission's huge responsibilities, even when we were about to fail," he said.
Yakubu also thanked the National Assembly, political parties, the National Peace Committee, civil society, the media, labour unions, security services, the National Youth Service Corps, and other groups for their help.
"Most importantly, I want to thank Nigerians for their comments and criticisms, which pushed us to keep going," he said. He said that INEC had done a lot over the years under his leadership to deal with problems and come up with new ideas.
Yakubu also said that the commission combined the biometric record of voters and used digital platforms and apps to replace many of INEC's manual tasks.
Among these are, according to him, the selection of candidates, the assignment of polling and tallying agents by political parties, the authorisation of national and foreign observers, the media for elections, the authorisation of voters, and the management of election results.
He also said that with the help of development partners, INEC had put in place new tools to make different parts of election management better, like making it easier to find places where elections are held. Among them were overseeing the work of election officials who collect and count votes, teaching election staff virtually, keeping an eye on the finances and audits of political parties, and keeping an eye on the whole election process through our Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC).
Yakubu said that even though a lot of progress had been made, there was still a lot more work to be done.
He said that the commission was already getting ready for the November governorship election in Anambra, the 2026 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun, and the November election for the FCT Area Council.
He said that INEC had already started planning for some of the most important actions for the 2027 general elections while they were waiting for a new Electoral Act to be passed. "The bill is being looked at by the National Assembly right now." The new act's changes to the way elections work are likely to mean that our rules and guidelines, as well as the election guides, need to be looked over again.
"On top of these reviews, the commission needs to clean up the voters' list even more, look at where some polling places are located, and redistribute voters to those places."
"Managing party primaries is another important part of what we do." You may remember that the Commission saw the nominations of more than 20,000 candidates for the last general election in 2023.
"On top of that, election logistics, which include buying, making, and transporting huge amounts of materials by land, air, and sea, are huge jobs," he said.