The Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide and the Northern Emancipation Network have faulted calls for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba, has called on President Bola Tinubu to remove the INEC Chairman from office.
Agbakoba who commended decisions taken so far by the Tinubu administration including the sack of Godwin Emefiele, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, as well as the chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, Bawa Abdul-rasheed, went ahead to advise President Tinubu to sack the INEC’s Chairman.
Additionally, in a statement made available to Journalists in Kaduna on Saturday, June 17, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, National President of the Ohaneze Nd’Igbo Youth Council, advise President Tibunu not to “throw away the baby with the bath water.”
Okwu noted that though he agreed with Agbakoba on the other decisions taken by the Tinubu presidency, there was no need for Yakubu’s sack at the moment.
According to the Ohanaeze youth leader, despite the shortcomings witnessed during the 2023 general elections, it was one of the best elections ever conducted in Nigeria’s history.
He said, “In the same election conducted by Yakubu, we had sitting governors lose elections across the country; we had popular National Assembly members lose the election. This did not happen before in the country’s election.
“There is no perfect election in any part of the world, even the United States, which prides itself as the capital of world democracy.
“Yakubu should be allowed to remain the INEC Chairman at least pending the conclusion of the cases.”
On his part, the NEN’s Chairman noted that Agbakoba’s call for the sack of the INEC chairman might be a result of the defeat suffered by his preferred party, the Labour Party during the last general election in the country.
“We join the vast majority of responsible Nigerians and the civilized global community in acknowledging that the elections conducted by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, remain the most fair, free and credible in the recent history of Nigeria’s political development," Okwu said.
