{"id":76223,"date":"2025-10-08T09:52:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=76223"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:52:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:52:24","slug":"yakubu-bows-out-after-two-terms-as-inec-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/10\/08\/yakubu-bows-out-after-two-terms-as-inec-chairman\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakubu Bows Out After Two Terms as INEC Chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adenike Lawal<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a decade at the helm of Nigeria\u2019s electoral umpire, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has officially bowed out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), marking the end of his historic two-term tenure.<\/p>\n

Yakubu handed over to Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, the commission\u2019s most senior National Commissioner, who will serve as Acting Chair pending the appointment of a substantive successor.<\/p>\n

The brief handover ceremony took place during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners at INEC\u2019s national headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Yakubu urged directors and senior officials of the commission to extend full support to the Acting Chair during the transition period. His exit closes a significant chapter in Nigeria\u2019s electoral history.<\/p>\n

Appointed in 2015 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu supervised two general elections in 2019 and 2023 along with several off-cycle polls.<\/p>\n

His reappointment in 2020 made him the first person to serve two consecutive terms as INEC Chairman since Nigeria\u2019s return to democracy in 1999.<\/p>\n

Attention now shifts to President Bola Tinubu, who is expected to nominate Yakubu\u2019s successor, subject to Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n

However, civil society groups are already mounting pressure for transparency and adherence to constitutional procedures in the selection process.<\/p>\n

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged President Tinubu to make public details of the selection process, including the shortlist of candidates and consultations with the Council of State as required by law.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated September 27, the group also cautioned against appointing individuals with partisan affiliations as Resident Electoral Commissioners, stressing the need to preserve INEC\u2019s neutrality.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, in an interview on Politics Today, emphasized the need for an INEC Chair with proven integrity, political independence, and the courage to uphold the law without fear or favour.<\/p>\n

As Nigeria looks ahead to future elections, the credibility of its democracy will depend largely on whether the next INEC leadership can sustain public confidence and strengthen the nation\u2019s electoral process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adenike Lawal   After a decade at the helm of Nigeria\u2019s electoral umpire, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has officially bowed out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), marking the end of his historic two-term tenure. Yakubu handed over to Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, the commission\u2019s most senior National Commissioner, who will serve as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inec","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76225,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76223\/revisions\/76225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}