INEC chairman, Yakubu, resumes, targets 1,508 activities

From Romanus Ugwu and Fred Ezeh, Abuja

The reappointed chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday, formally resumed office, promising to hit ground running for his second tenure.

Speaking after the handover from the Acting chairman, AVM Mu’azu Ahmed (retd), Prof Mahmood, revealed that he has resolved with his technical team to execute no fewer than 1,800 activities.

In his remarks before handing over to Prof Yakubu, Muazu hailed him on his reappointment, prayed to God to see him through the difficult national assignment, describing the period of his acting as the longest one month of his life.

He further informed the chairman that the Commission under him faced hostile geographical and political terrain, revealing that it deployed armed policemen and military with full air cover of the Nigerian Airforce surveillance aircraft and helicopter gunships in Borno.

Prof. Yakubu thanked Mu’azu and the five National Commissioners for overseeing the affairs of the Commission over the last 31 days.

“During that period, the National Commissioners, led by AVM Mu’azu, were able to successfully conduct by-elections for the 15 constituencies in 11 States of the Federation, including six Senatorial Districts.

“Each state of the federation has three Senatorial Districts, so, when you conduct six senatorial by-elections, is like conducting governorship elections in two states of the federation, and that includes Lagos East, as AVM Mu’azu said, which has voter register population more than the combined register of voters for the republic of Gambia and Japan put together. So, I want to thank you for holding forth.

“The successful conduct of elections under Acting Chairman, supported by National Commissioners is …of my policy over the last five years to nominate national commissioner by rotation each time I was officially out of the country to oversee the affairs of the Commission. In that case, all the National Commissioners had, at one point or another, acted in my temporary absence.”