The demand that Professor Mahmood Yakubu be removed as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission has been denounced by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, or AYCF.
Yerima Shettima, the National President of AYCF, cautioned against any attempt to have Yakubu removed and referred to the Arewa Coalition as “attention seekers posing as activists for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC.”
Shettima said, “We have followed with keen interest an ongoing smear campaign and the call for the sacking of INEC National Chairman by a group of rabble-rousers masquerading as campaigners for electoral sanity and accountability in INEC, when in fact they are attention-seekers,” in a statement to journalists in Kaduna State.
”As a group of progressive-minded advocates, we totally disagree with the so-called Arewa Coalition calling for the sack of the INEC National Chairman. Our reasons are as follows:-
”The Arewa Citizens for Good Governance did not bother to check how much spectacular achievements INEC under Prof. Yakubu before their charade of spurious claims and allegations.
”As a matter of fact, there has never been a comparatively better strategy of Nigerian voter education efforts than the one launched by the leadership of the electoral umpire in recent years.
”The circumstances under which INEC has been effectively planning, coordinating and generally handling its operations is unprecedented, considering the financial difficulties currently facing Nigeria due to rampaging inflation.
”The revolution in election results collections, using the BVA and other electronic transmission devices is the first of its kind in Nigeria’s election history. The electoral umpire has proved its neutrality in elections since 2015, when even the current administration lost out in some elections. No manager of the electoral umpire has ever dared to let work so efficiently that even the party in power could lose in some instances.”
Shettima went on to say that throughout the years, Professor Yakubu has created a reputation for transparency and accountability in the conduct of elections, as well as efficiency in the selection of his team for all categories of elections.
