JUST IN: INEC Withdraws Sensitive Election Materials From CBN After Emefiele’s Failed Presidential Bid

The Chairman of the independent National Electoral commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has announced withdrawal of sensitive electoral materials from the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Yakubu disclosed this at an ongoing symposium tagged “The Electorate: A Conversation on Elections in Nigeria” taking place at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

He said in the interim, the CBN will no longer be in charge of election materials beginning with the Ekiti state governorship election.

According to Yakubu, the commission took the decision to prevent such materials from being compromised.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that the INEC Chairman had told journalists at a briefing last month that the commission had “already started talking about what alternatives are available to us in case we need to change the arrangement for the handling of sensitive materials.”

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had made a failed attempt to contest for the position of the president of Nigeria on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The move had sparked outrage from Nigerians and civil society organizations who called on INEC to withdraw the 2023 election materials from the CBN on the grounds that its head had become partisan and a politician.

More details to follow…