It was Professor Mahmood Yakubu's choice to step down from the Independent National Electoral Commission so that a new head could be ...
It was Professor Mahmood Yakubu's choice to step down from the Independent National Electoral Commission so that a new head could be chosen.
You may remember that Mr. Mahmood quit his job as Chairman of the commission on Tuesday and gave the job to Ms. May Agbamuche-Mbu, a national commissioner.
It was heard that the short ceremony took place at the INEC headquarters in Abuja during the commission's regular meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners to seek their advice.
The chairman who was stepping down said that his leaving would also make it easier for the person who would be taking over to get right to work on running polls and other election-related activities.
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.
In line with Section 36, Subsections 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, Prof Mahmood said, "I have made a decision and communicated the same." Between now and then, I'm going to hand over to one of the most senior national commissioners by appointment date. After talking with other national commissioners, Ms. May Agbamuche-Mbu will take over as acting head of the commission until a permanent chairman is chosen.
"I hope this gives the people in charge of hiring enough time to find a new chairman." It will also make it easy for the new chairman to get started right away on the job of running polls and other election-related activities in Africa's most complicated demographic and logistical setting.
"Together, we came up with new ideas and handled the commission's huge responsibilities, even when things were about to fall apart,"
"Most of all, I want to thank Nigerians for their comments and criticisms, which pushed us to keep going instead of giving up."