Sack INEC chairman now ,Agbakoba tells Tinubu
Nigeria’s intrepid lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu from office.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in a statement issued on Thursday hailed President Tinubu for suspending Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), urging him to do the same to INEC chairman.
Recall that Tinubu had on June 9, suspended Emefiele as CBN governor and directed him to transfer his responsibilities to the deputy governor, operations directorate.
He repeated the same thing on Wednesday when he suspended Bawa following “weighty allegations of abuse of office against him”.
Agbakoba said with Tinubu’s actions, endemic corruption has suffered a massive blow, adding that the next move the president should make is to dismantle INEC, with the commission’s chairman forcefully removed or asked to tender his resignation.
“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.
“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,” the statement reads.
“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.”
