Former NBA President Agbakoba asks Tinubu to remove INEC Chair after EFCC, CBN Chiefs’ suspension

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba has asked President Bola Tinubu to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu.

The senior attorney claimed in a statement on Thursday that the 61-year-old INEC chairman must resign or be removed from office in order to avoid impeding Nigeria’s efforts to implement electoral reform.

In the statement by his Media Assistant, Niyi Odunmorayo, Agbakoba commended the President for “getting rid” Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and AbdulRasheed Bawa as the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The senior lawyer said, “Full congratulations go to President Tinubu for getting rid of Emefiele and Bawa and 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 very quickly that the suggested reforms have nothing to do with the merits of election results at all. Both winners and losers of the elections were victims of the failure of INEC. Confidence in Nigeria’s democracy will be enhanced by a deep cleansing of INEC”.

Then President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Yakubu as INEC chair in November 2015 to succeed Attahiru Jega, who supervised the 2015 general elections. In October 2020, Buhari reappointed Yakubu as the electoral commission boss.