President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday announced a fresh and final tenure for Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the INEC chair. ABDULRAHMAN A. ABDULRAUF looks at what earned the renowned historian a re-appointment and the stakeholders’ views.
It is apposite to say here that Jega, a fellow academic, has set a feat and even a template in election management. The new helmsman will be expected to up the ante in the areas of achieving credible elections. In the immediate, he should get down to business very quickly and strategise for the forthcoming governorship elections in November and December, in both Kogi and Bayelsa states, as well as rerun elections occasioned by tribunal judgements. That, certainly, will be a litmus test for him.
With his successor putting in place the card reader system, he should strive to ensure that the deficiencies noticeable during the last general elections are smoothly and quickly fixed so that Nigeria can join the league of nations where elections can be held under trust. Similarly, the issue of staff discipline should be emphasised, especially as it concerns their conduct during elections.
The above are a few of the areas Yakubu must bring his administrative sagacity, academic dexterity as well as practical experience acquired over the years in the management of human and material resources to bear. Certainly, as a historian with good sense of history, the egghead must surely begin to explore new and better ways of doing things at INEC. This, for sure, is the only way he can best sustain not only the Jega legacies, but also break new grounds for further positives in the history of election management in Nigeria. (Blueprint Newspaper, October 22, 2015)
These were this writer’s admonition to Professor Mahmood Yakubu on his appointment as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by President Muhammadu Buahri in 2015 as successor to fiery activist, Professor Attahiru Jega.
Consequent upon this, the Senate, after a rigorous screening of the new election manager and his agenda, confirmed his appointment in line with the Constitution.
Yakubu succeeded Jega, a strong-willed and firebrand academic with a background in activism. Of course, Yakubu was coming in shortly after a brilliant stint as the helmsman of TERTFUND, where he also carried out a lot of interventions in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
Naturally, not a few gave him the chance to carry on from where Jega, the activist stopped because of his gentle disposition and unassuming disposition. However, his historic appearance at the Senate revealed Yakubu’s level of preparedness to raise the bar of election management in Nigeria.
His reappointment
And in the wisdom of President Buhari, the INEC boss got another opportunity to manage the nation’s electoral system for yet another five years, subject to the Senate’s confirmation.
In a terse letter to Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the president said the nomination was in accordance with the provision of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“I am pleased to present for confirmation by the Senate, the nomination of Professor Mahmood Yakubu for appointment as Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final term,” he said.
The feats
While the erstwhile TERTFUND boss was coming on board amidst the euphoria that greeted the credibility of the 2015 general elections, he nonetheless inherited some unfinished business by the Jega-led INEC.
Without much ado, he settled in to confront the November and December governorship elections in both Kogi and Bayelsa states respectively. Also, he had yet up his sleeve rerun elections occasioned by tribunal judgements. With a system in place, irrespective of who is coming on board when, it is just expected that things should work out. But the less than three-month old leadership of INEC under Yakubu, encountered some challenges occasioned by politicians’ desperation to win at all cost, thus causing a dishevelled voting environment leading to unimaginable violence. This necessitated the cancellation of results in some parts of the country, a decision that generated some harsh words from some stakeholders.
Inconclusive polls
For the academic, ensuring justice and fairness is always at the heart of any election under his watch. For instance, in 2016, President Nigerian Bar Association (as he then was), Augustine Alegeh (SAN) put the blame of inconclusive elections at INEC’s doorstep.
And in a response, the commission fired back, saying the concluded polls were far higher than the inconclusive. Alegeh spoke at the 2016 NBA conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
Responding to the allegations, the commission clarified that it “has thus far concluded 139 elections (118 at first ballot and 21 after supplementary) out of a total of 163 scheduled elections and that 22 elections were suspended due to violence while two elections are sub-judice”.
“This shows that 72.3 percent of the elections were concluded at the first ballot, 21.8 percent of the inconclusive elections were concluded after supplementary; 1.2 percent are pending; while 13.4 percent were suspended in Rivers state due to violence.”
Describing Alegeh’s pronouncement as “ill informed, misplaced and undeserved,” INEC said “inconclusive elections are caused by violence and over-voting and that the notion of inconclusive election is not strange to our law (see Section 26 and 53 of Electoral Act 2010 as amended).”
CSOs’ applause
Doing things differently also did contribute in no small way to the reappointment of the INEC boss for a final tenure. It’s on record that the commission, more than at any other time, constantly meets with major stakeholders like members of the media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and political parties to straighten some grey areas. This, no doubt, enhanced some level of success recorded by the commission.
This clearly manifested in the verdict of the CSOs and even political parties at the end of both Edo and Ondo polls.
A statement by the Convener Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room Clement Nwankwo, said: “The administration of the Edo State Governorship Election appears to have been a marked improvement on recent previous governorship elections.
“INEC’s processes appeared to operate smoothly. The logistics issues of distribution of materials, deployment of staff and challenges in the Voters’ Register were significantly reduced. In addition, security personnel acted professionally.
“The usual issues cited such as logistical challenges and overbearing security presence were less of an issue in this election, although the challenge of vote-buying/trading was still prevalent.”
It’s more gladdening that the critical CSOs admitted that “this election showed that Nigeria can learn from previous setbacks in its electoral process and take a step towards achieving credible elections.”
“INEC introduced the use of a Result Viewing Portal to upload polling unit results. This was a commendable action on the part of INEC and Situation Room commends it in its effort at transparency in the electoral process..
“However, a significant amount of results were yet to be uploaded, even at the time of collation, raising fears of possible political interference at some polling points.
“There was an improved use of Smart Card Readers in the election, as they were widely deployed and utilised across the State.
“Isolated cases of card reader malfunctions observed were reported to have been rectified, with voting resuming soon afterwards,” the statement added.
IPAC
For the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), an umbrella body of all political parties in the country, it’s one appointment well-deserved.
IPAC Chairman, Dr. Leonard Nzenwa, said only few helmsmen at the commission were able to achieve “respectable results” realised by Yakubu during his outgoing tenure.
The body specifically said: “The success of the Edo and Ondo 2020 Gubernatorial Polls are clear examples of the positive technology and digitization trajectory which Prof. Yakubus’ first tenure gave to Nigeria.”
While urging Yakubu to remain resolute and ensure Nigerians’ votes count for the country to go forward, he said, “it is remarkable that Prof. Mohammood Yakubu’s re-appointment is the first time an INEC chairman is re-appointed in the history of Nigeria.”
PDP
Even the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party is at home with the reappointment of the INEC boss, saying it will serve as impetus to credible elections in the country.
Notwithstanding some ‘reservations’, spokesman of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan said: “We consider this reappointment by President Buhari as an impetus to demonstrate a readiness for a free fair and credible election, which Mr. President had always promised to bequeath at the end of his second and final term in office in 2023.”
While tasking Yakubu to up his ante in the conduct of “credible, free and fair elections in our country,” the party urged him to spend the nearly three years ahead of the next general election to re-jig the commission.
His profile
Born in Bauchi May 1962, Yakubu studied History at the old University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University) from 1980 to 1985. At UniSok, Yakubu’s academic prowess came to the fore as he not only came top with a first class honours degree in History, but emerged the school’s best graduating student and the first student from northern Nigeria to graduate with a first class in History.
While one is not taking the Senate’s confirmation for granted, it is safe to say that this versatile historian is surely on the verge of making history as the first chair of electoral body to be so privileged to have another shot at the office.
