The demand that Professor Mahmood Yakubu be removed as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission has been denounced by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, or AYCF.
Yerima Shettima, the National President of AYCF, cautioned against any attempt to have Yakubu removed and referred to the Arewa Coalition as “attention seekers posing as activists for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC.”
Shettima said, “We have followed with keen interest an ongoing smear campaign and the call for the sacking of INEC National Chairman by a group of rabble-rousers masquerading as campaigners for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC, when in fact they are attention-seekers,” in a statement to journalists in Kaduna State.
As a group of progressive activists, we categorically reject the so-called Arewa Coalition’s demand that the INEC National Chairman be fired. Here are our justifications:-
Before staging their pantomime of false claims and accusations, the Arewa Citizens for Good Governance neglected to investigate the amazing accomplishments made by INEC under Prof. Yakubu.
In actuality, the technique employed by the leadership of the electoral umpire in recent years has been the best one in terms of voter education initiatives in Nigeria.
“Considering the financial challenges Nigeria is currently experiencing due to escalating inflation, the circumstances under which INEC has been properly planning, organizing, and managing its activities are unparalleled.
The BVA and other electronic transmission devices were used in a revolutionary way for the first time in Nigerian election history to collect election results. Since 2015, when even the incumbent administration lost certain elections, the electoral umpire has demonstrated its independence from political parties. No electoral umpire manager has ever ventured to allow operations to run so smoothly that even the party in control may lose occasionally.
Shettima noted that over the years, Professor Yakubu has established a reputation for effectiveness in the selection of his team for all types of elections as well as transparency and accountability in the conduct of elections.
