The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, has said that changes to the Electoral Act will be made before the 2027 general elections.
Yakubu also dismissed rumours that he had been removed from office, saying he is still in charge of the electoral body.
He made these comments on Monday while speaking with journalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja at the swearing-in of two new INEC National Commissioners by President Bola Tinubu.
Yakubu said INEC and other stakeholders have reviewed the 2023 general elections and made 142 recommendations.
He said out of these, eight need changes to the constitution or the Electoral Act.
He said, ‘We are here today, basically for the swearing in of two national commissioners. As you are aware, the commission is made up of a chairman and 12 national commissioners drawn on the basis of two commissioners per geopolitical zone. So vacancies existed for the North West and the South East, and the Senate has screened and confirmed the nominees, and Mister President today performed the swearing in’.
‘So, we have almost the full complement of commissioners of the commission. As we are also aware, about two weeks ago or so, we lost one of our commissioners, Major General Modibbo Alkali (retd), may his soul rest in peace. So now, we have almost the full complement of commissioners’.
On electoral reforms, Yakubu said INEC recently met with the National Assembly’s electoral reform committees in Lagos.
‘Thereafter, the National Assembly is going to organise a public hearing, and it’s after the public hearing that a new bill will, at the end of the day, be submitted to the President for assent.
‘So, we’re working with the National Assembly on electoral reform, but at this point, I’m not going to give you any more details. You will hear from the National Assembly whose responsibility it is, but we reviewed the 2023 general elections on our own.
‘We engaged with the stakeholders. We came up with 142 recommendations. Out of this, eight require constitutional or Electoral Act amendment, and we discussed this with members of the National Assembly.
‘So far so good, we are happy with our discussions with them, and we are also happy with the speed with which they want to proceed so that we’ll have some necessary amendments done to the Electoral Act ahead of the 2027 general elections’, he explained.
On rumours about his removal from office, he said, ‘I don’t think we need to waste time so much on this unnecessary speculation. As far as the law is concerned, and as far as I’m aware, I remain the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and under the Constitution, the Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Federation, and under the Electoral Act, the returning officer for the presidential election’.
The two newly sworn-in INEC commissioners are Mallam Tukur Abdulrazaq Yusuf from the Northwest and Professor Sunday Nwambam Aja from Ebonyi State in the Southeast.
Tinubu also swore in two commissioners for the Code of Conduct Bureau: Ikpeme Kenneth Ndem from Cross River State and retired Justice Buba Ibrahim Nyaure from Taraba State.
