Professor Mahmood Yakubu was on Wednesday sworn in for a second term as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and believes elections in the country are getting better.
“We have clearly demonstrated in recent elections that elections are getting better and better and elections will continue to get better and better,” he said after the swearing-in ceremony by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers, State House in Abuja.
Buhari had in October written to the Senate to confirm Yakubu’s appointment. He becomes the first person to serve two terms as INEC boss.
On Tuesday last week, the Senate confirmed his appointment as chairman of the electoral body, a development the former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) described as a “privilege.”
“It is a big responsibility. It is history. No Nigerian has been so privileged to serve as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission twice,” the professor of Political History and International Studies, added.
“And it is a responsibility I am going to discharge consistent with the oath of office I took.”
The swearing-in took place just before the start of the 27th virtual Federal Executive Council meeting where a one – minute silence was observed in honour of military officer, late Gen. Domkat Bali who served as a Minister of Defence and member of the Supreme Military Council of 1984–1985.
On October 27th, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari reappointed Yakubu as Chairman of INEC for another five-year term, making him the first person to be handed a second tenure as head of the commission.
“I am pleased to present for confirmation by the Senate, the nomination of Professor Mahmood Yakubu for appointment as Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final term,” Buhari was quoted as saying in a letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
The National Assembly has commenced the process of Electoral Act amendment, ahead of the 2023 general election.
The joint Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the House Committee on Electoral Matters are currently holding a one day public hearing.
The public hearing which is well attended by the joint Committee members and Civil Society Groups will wholistically look at the 2010 Electoral Act with a view to amending it.
Sources from Civil Society Groups indicate they would be demanding that candidates must be graduates to qualify and that INEC’s must handle the processes of elections more transparently than it is at the moment.
The Electoral Act was similarly amended by the 8th Senate which was not assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari for undisclosed reasons before the end of that session.