Ahamba backs calls for Yakubu’s sack. Says current INEC management messed up nation ‘s electoral system.
CHIGOZIE AMADI
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ahamba has thrown his full weight on calls by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and other INEC leaders at federal, states, local government levels should be sacked for under performance.
Chief Ahamba remarked in a telephone interview that Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his team including the entire management of the election umpire have made the process of election in the country worse than they met it.
He stated that Chief Obasanjo, as a politician and former president was right to demand for the replacement of the INEC officials to bring some measure of sanity to the system considering the outcome of polls conducted by INEC since after the 2023 general election.
Chief Ahamba also faulted the attitude of National Assembly members who have been paying mere lip service to electoral reforms for a long time without taking concrete steps to do the needful.
He praised Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for hitting the nail on the head by calling for the dismissal of the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and officials of the commission at all levels as part of a reform of the electoral process in Nigeria.
Asked what should be the way forward, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said just like Chief Obasanjo has done, Nigerians, who are true democrats should continue to advocate for reforms with the hope that one day, their expectations for a workable democracy will manifest.
Recall that Chief Obasanjo, in a paper he presented at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, at Yale University, in the United States titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” called for the sack of INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu and officials of the commission and also described the 2023 general election as a “travesty” adding that the reform of the electoral system should be a key agenda for the country.
