BREAKING! 80% Of Poll Under Jega Not Credible – INEC

[caption id="attachment_17177" align="alignnone" width="750"] Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman[/caption]

In a stark contrast that the 2015 General Election was above average in terms of performance, the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has rubbished the claim, stating that 80 percent of the poll were not credible.

The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, made the claim in response to an article by Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) in Thisday Newspaper of March 1, 2017. 

Oyekanmi wrote: “You also alleged that INEC under Prof Yakubu “has fumbled and failed clearly to conduct conclusive re-run elections” Why didn’t you, for instance, volunteer to help INEC in the December 10 Rivers Re-run and serve in at least one local government?

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“INEC has so far conducted 165 elections most of which were court-ordered arising from the 2015 General elections. The same 2015 general elections that some of you have been praising to high heavens.

“If the 2015 general elections were that perfect, why did the courts nullify 80 of then (sic)? And mind you, more than 80% of the elections conducted by the Yakubu-led INEC were conclusive at first ballot. Yet, it was only last December that the Commission had a full compliment (sic) of National Commissioners. These are facts which you can easily ask us to provide if you don’t know. But you chose to shoot blindly. Of course, you did it in purpose.”

He went on to accuse Mr. Onwubiko of being “ill-informed,” and spreading lies, disparaging individuals and making false allegations.”

Onwubiko in an article; ‘Is INEC Prepared For 2019?’ He wrote: “The 2019 general elections will surely be a watershed in the political annals of Nigeria. The 2019 elections will be epochal for a number of strategic reasons.

“Importantly, the election will test the will of President Muhammadu Buhari to guarantee free and fair process given that he is the biggest political beneficiary of a peaceful transition programme in the over half a century of Nigeria’s existence. 

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“Buhari was returned the winner in the year 2015 general election which the incumbent Dr. Goodluck Jonathan accepted.

“That remains unprecedented given that the then President could have sat tight and manipulated the electoral process to self-perpetuate.”

Perhaps what drew the angst of the spokesperson to the INEC boss is this: “To answer the interrogatory correctly, one institution that could make or mar the conduct and outcome of that significantly defining event of 2019 elections is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headed by the controversial Professor Yakubu Mahmood who headed the incompetent education trust fund known as TETFUND which recently came under the hammer of the National Assembly for lack of transparency.”

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