‘Nigeria Doesn’t Need Another Election Rigger’, Baba-Ahmed Seeks Credible INEC Chair

The 2023 Labour Party (LP) vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, has called for the appointment of a credible successor to Professor Mahmood Yakubu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

LEADERSHIP reports that Prof. Yakubu’s tenure ends in November 2025.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Friday night, Baba-Ahmed attributed the alleged irregularities of the 2023 presidential election directly to the outgoing INEC boss and warned against appointing a successor who would undermine the nation’s constitution.

“All I want is a credible person, not somebody who will clearly rig what the constitution provides,” Baba-Ahmed stated.

He specifically referenced the constitutional requirement for a president to secure 25% of votes in at least two-thirds of the States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a point heavily contested in the election that brought President Bola Tinubu to power.

“Just one individual. Throughout human history, individuals make or break societies,” Baba-Ahmed said.

The Labour Party chieftain placed the nation’s most pressing crises squarely at the feet of flawed elections, declaring electoral fraud the primary ill plaguing Nigeria.

“Our leadership recruitment is the bane of our problems. Electoral fraud is the single most important fact to be addressed in our lives as a nation, even beyond insecurity.

“Insecurity is derived from electoral fraud. The Nigerian election gave birth to the kind of insecurity we have today,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed further argued that corruption is aggravated by electoral fraud and that the systemic destruction of the nation’s youth is tied to the same root cause.

Professor Yakubu, a 59-year-old political historian, was first appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2020.

His tenure has been dominated by the fiercely disputed 2023 general elections, the results of which were upheld by the Supreme Court after legal challenges by both the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The responsibility to appoint his successor now falls on President Bola Tinubu.

The decision is being closely watched, as it will set the tone for the 2027 electoral cycle and determine whether the tradition of appointing an INEC chairman from the country’s northern region will continue or not.