The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not found funny some jests made about its chairman running for the 2023 presidential election.
Following reports that a group of supporters had purchased the N100 million presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, a Nigerian-American professor and columnist, Farooq Kperogi, had said he won’t be surprised if the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, whose office insulates him from partisan politics, Joins the 2023 presidential race.
Kperogi wrote in a Facebook post, “The CBN governor, who manages Nigeria’s money and who should be apolitical, is running for president without resigning his position.
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“I honestly won’t be surprised if I hear the INEC chairman say that a group of concerned Nigerians have contributed N100m to buy the APC presidential nomination for him.
“APC has normalized absurdity, indecency, and outrageousness to a degree we’ve never seen since Nigeria’s independence.”
A former Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, had also in reaction said “The way things are going, INEC Chairman sef go buy APC Presidential form ooo.”
Emefiele had clarified that he was yet to decide on whether or not to run for the office but said that he was “humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President in the 2023 general elections”.
But INEC on Sunday condemned statements linking its chairman to purchase of the APC presidential forms.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, described the statements as preposterous
“Our attention has been drawn to innuendoes in certain quarters that Nigerians should not be surprised if the INEC Chairman joins the presidential race.
“It is a preposterous proposition. It will not happen. The Chairman remains an umpire committed to free, fair and credible elections.
“His responsibilities as the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Federation and Returning Officer for the presidential election are onerous enough for him to contemplate extraneous matters at variance with the law, morality and his personal principles,’’ Oyekanmi stated.