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Former National Human Rights Commission Director-General Prof. Chidi Odinkalu has expressed confidence that Prof. Joash Amupitan, the recently appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will not hold elections that are tainted by irregularities, as were the elections conducted under his predecessor, Mahmoud Yakubu.

While answering questions during an interview on Channels Television Politics Today on Thursday, Odinkalu made the remark.

He claimed, using the Edo governorship vote as an example, that Yakubu’s administration had mastered the practice of achieving various election results.

“Josh will not administer an election like in Edo State, where there were four results,” Odinkalu said. “Mahmoud Yakubu perfected the act of producing elections in which there are four results — one he announces, one on IReV, another issued to party agents, and another tendered in court. That’s criminal. He brought elections and INEC into disrepute, and the new INEC chair will have to begin to address this.”

The rights activist backed up his assertion that Yakubu was eroding his electoral legitimacy with numbers.

He pointed out that roughly 86.35% of election results in 2007 under Maurice Iwu ended up in court. But he said that under Prof. Attahiru Jega, who presided over the 2011 and 2015 elections, the number dropped dramatically.

“Jega reduced the number of election cases in court from 86.35% in 2007 to 51% in 2011, and further to 44% in 2015. That shows progress,” he stated.

Odinkalu contended that electoral disputes increased under Yakubu, making the situation worse. “By 2019, the figure increased to 56.34%, and by 2023, it reached 83%. That tells you something — Mahmoud Yakubu ruined INEC,” he said.

Ahead of the general elections in 2027, he encouraged the newly appointed INEC chairman to restore the electoral system’s legitimacy.

“Joash has a job. Nobody expects perfect elections, but he must begin to redress this decline incrementally, so that by 2027, we won’t have over 80% of our elections going to court,” Odinkalu added.

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