Keep up with latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing, follow our WhatsApp channel for more update. Click to Follow us

Olusegun Obasanjo has demanded a thorough reform of Nigeria’s election system, stressing the urgent need to fire Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National election Commission (INEC), and other high-ranking officials.

The former Nigerian president made the appeal while presenting a paper titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria” at the esteemed Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in the United States.

Obasanjo did not hold back while calling the general election of 2023 a “travesty,” emphasising the need to change the voting process in order to rebuild confidence.

He maintained that reducing the length of time INEC officials serve is a crucial component of this reform in order to limit the excessive impact of politics and corruption.

Furthermore, Obasanjo promoted a stringent screening procedure to guarantee that only unbiased, nonpartisan people with impeccable records are assigned to these important roles.

The former president underlined the need for INEC’s leadership to exhibit unflinching independence, openness, and integrity.

Obasanjo further cited the commission’s inability to use advanced technologies, particularly the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), during the 2023 presidential election, in spite of Chairman Yakubu’s claims to the contrary.

Obasanjo claimed that widespread voting irregularities resulted from this omission.

“The BVAS and IReV are two technological innovations that, prior to 2023, were celebrated for their potential to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes.

“These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. INEC willfully failed to use or implement them, which resulted in widespread voting irregularities. It was a case of inviting the fox into the henhouse,” Obasanjo stated.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.