No doubt, people will now say that this is one appointment President Muhammadu Buhari has made that was foretold. There was no wonder, no surprise. Still, it is news: The president, known for his love for conduct of free, fair and transparent polls, has reappointed Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for another term, final term, of five years.
Yakubu was born in Bauchi in May 1962. He studied History at the old University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University) from 1980 to 1985, graduating with a first class honours degree. Yakubu was also the university’s best graduating student and the first student from northern Nigeria to graduate with a first class in History.
Of course, his appointment did not surprise anyone because of the laudable achievements he has introduced in the conduct of elections in the country. Some of these achievements include technological innovations like the election result website to facilitate online transmission of results. This development has greatly reduced tensions at election collation centres and makes rigging there almost impracticable.
Perhaps, more than any other reason, what explains the president’s decision to reappoint Yakubu were the conduct, recently of some generally acceptable elections. Simply said, Yakubu has been credited for conducting credible governorship elections, recently, in Edo and Ondo states.
So acceptable were the results of the two elections that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the country’s main opposition party, said the reappointment of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the chairman of INEC will serve as a momentum to credible elections in Nigeria.
Reacting to the appointment in a statement issued on Wednesday by Kola Ologbondiyan, the spokesman of the PDP, the party said the reappointment has entrusted Yakubu with fate, hope, and the future of over 200 million Nigerians and those of generations yet unborn.
“We consider this reappointment by President Buhari as an impetus to demonstrate 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,” the PDP said.
On its part, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), an umbrella body of all political parties in the country, said it’s one appointment well-deserved.
“The success of the Edo and Ondo 2020 gubernatorial polls are clear examples of the positive technology and digitisation trajectory which Prof. Yakubus’ first tenure gave to Nigeria,” he IPAC said.
While urging Yakubu to remain resolute and ensure Nigerians’ votes count, the IPAC 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.”
In its reaction, the Nigerian opposition coalition (CUPP), urged Yakubu to use the second term, which is novel in the political history of Nigeria, to cleanse our electoral process and consolidate on the gains of Edo and Ondo elections.
The CUPP says, and rightly so, that Nigerians will expect nothing less than very credible, free and fair 2023 general elections under the reign of the INEC chairman.
Can the new chairman meet the expectations of the opposition parties, Nigerians and international community as far as the conduct of credible, free, fair and transparent elections in 2023 are concerned? Yes, he can. And the records and history are there to support his capabilities.
Agreed, soon after his appointment, things appeared to be taking turns for the worse, electorally, with cases of what then seemed to be cases of what came to be referred to as ‘inconclusive’ elections becoming apparently rampant. And in consideration of the standard already set by his predecessor, Professor Attahiru Jega, the new INEC chairman was, perhaps right at the time, judged harshly by many Nigerians.
The truth, however, is that Yakubu hardly had settled in his new job in 2015 had he encountered some electoral challenges brought about by the desperation of some politicians’ which led to some post-electoral violence and cancellation of results.
But, as a man equally desperate to do things differently and justly, Yakubu ordered the cancellation of results in some parts of the country, with his action drawing the ire of politicians, who were bent on winning elections at all costs, and the condemnations of some interests and individuals.
In the end, the INEC described those categorising it as a failure in the conduct of elections as “ill informed, saying: “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).”
Consequently, with the advent of inconclusive elections, seen by some few a failure on the part of INEC, if the objective of Buhari of having an electoral umpire, with Yakubu at its helm, is to significantly reduce, or end, the incidences election rigging, ballot stuffing, snatching and vote buying, through the conduct of credible and well organised elections, then, that goal can be said to have been largely realised.
After all, many ask, why should the INEC rush to declare the result of elections conducted under shady conditions and results were, clearly, manipulated and rigged when the same elections can be repeated with a view to getting the true winner?
Lest it is forgotten, President Muhammadu Buhari, who, it can be boldly said, whose decision to appoint Yakubu as the INEC boss became vindicated going by the successes recorded by the body, has promised to leave a legacy of credible elections in the country and to deploy law enforcement agencies to ensure that public officers do not utilise resources from office to exploit other citizens.
“I promise Nigerians to work very hard on free and fair elections,” he said. “All those that are going to succeed in the National Assembly and the presidency, they better work very hard because I will make sure, using the law enforcement agencies, that elections are free and fair, that nobody uses his office or his resources to force himself on his constituency.”
However, Buhari and Yakubu can give us the decent elections we crave in Nigeria. To achieve that, Nigerians must work together and technology must be employed in the process of conduct of elections. Above that, our political parties must come to terms with the issue of credibility. The security agencies, too, must come to terms with the issue of credibility. The security forces should not, and should not be used to intervene in the election process.
