Following the call of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo for massive electoral reforms in Nigeria, his stance was berated and hailed......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Obasanjo, as part of the reform in the electoral process said the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and officials of the commission at all levels should be dismissed, urging shorter tenures for INEC officials and an intense selection process to prevent the appointment of partisan individuals.
He made the call via a recorded video address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
The Presidency, in response to the former president, stated that Nigeria’s democracy endured severe setbacks during his tenure, claiming that successive administrations struggled to rectify the damage he left behind.
In a statement shared on his X account on Monday, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Communication and Orientation, Sunday Dare said Tinubu is now making significant progress in addressing these issues.
Dare said Obasanjo has lost any moral authority to criticise the current government, stressing that he should apologize to Nigerians for failing to lay the necessary infrastructure for the country’s progress.
He said, “Democracy suffered mortal wounds under his watch, only exacerbated by his destructive obsession with an ill-fated third-term bid.
“He is a man with a tremendous capacity for mischief, and Nigerians know it.
“His journey down the path of delusion has always been apparent, as has his descent into distorting facts, forgetting that he presided over a presidency that was among the most corrupt in history. His recent comments at Yale University lack sincerity.
“It is laughable that Obasanjo’s pretensions about fighting corruption are failing to convince the general public.”
Dare pointed out that under Obasanjo’s leadership, no explanation was ever given for the $16bn wasted on generating “megawatts of darkness” across the nation.
He advised Obasanjo to refrain from constantly criticising his successors and to take time to reflect on how he has contributed to the parlous state of the Nigerian nation, which President Tinubu is now valiantly working to restore.
“We thank former President Obasanjo for acknowledging that ‘Yes, there is hope.’ That’s the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda that President Tinubu is advancing, and it’s well on track. We look forward to having that conversation with the former president.
“President Tinubu will stay the course in seeing through the reforms he has initiated for a better Nigeria,” he submitted.
On his part, the chairman of Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information and Strategy, Hon Stephen Ogundipe challenged Obasanjo to provide evidence on why the Prof. Yakubu Mahmood should be sacked.
The State Assembly spokesman gave the remark in an interview with our correspondent, noting that Obasanjo being an elder statesman and former President ought to guard his utterances.
Hon Ogundipe explained that it was not befitting of a former President to be making inciting statement in public domain even if he has a fundamental issue to be discussed.
According to him, Obasanjo, as a former President has avenues of engaging President Bola Tinubu on any national issue. Other citizens do not have such privileges.
The lawmaker countered the former President. “It came to us as a surprise because he has so many avenues to discuss issues with the President which a lot of people don’t have.
“He ought not to be making inciting statement. A lot of us still hold him in high esteem. So he makes allegation without proving any evidence. Is it every time an opposition party loses election that INEC chairman should be sacked? He should be father for all and that is my personal opinion,” he noted.
Continuing, Ogundipe reiterated, “No doubt, electoral body should be made independent and we are living witnesses to what transpired during his tenure as the president when he even tried to manipulate the constitution for third term agenda.”
In his reaction, MD/CEO of First Katalyst Marketing Ltd, Soji Odedina, said Nigeria doesn’t need Messianic messages at this time as there are more pressing challenges facing the nation.
The analyst spoke with our correspondent on Monday, emphasizing the need to address hunger and poverty in Nigeria.
He said, “General Obasanjo had his time as President of Nigeria. He served his 2 terms to the best of his ability. Though some of us believe he could have done so much better to reset the historic course of Nigeria more permanently. But the third term agenda beclouded his place in history”.
“I didn’t know that anyone dictated to President Obasanjo how to run his government. Nigeria doesn’t need Messianic messages at this time. There are more pressing challenges facing the nation than to start scheming for who will succeed Tinubu in 2027.
“Let’s start addressing the issues of aggregate poverty and hunger in the land right now before it is too late, he concluded.
However, the Director of Civil Liberty’s Organization of Nigeria, Comrade Aluko Daniel Steve, has advocated for the amendment of the 2022 electoral act to address certain abnormalities.
Steve, a human rights activist tasked Nigerians to lend their voices to the call for a change, as amending the current electoral act would correct the shortcomings committed in the past elections by the electoral umpire and put in place a better electoral platform in the near future.
He made this known while speaking to our correspondent in Jos, on Monday.
The human right activist revealed that what Obasanjo is saying is not new taking into cognisance the abysmal performance of INEC during elections.
He said for Nigeria to get to the peak of conducting credible elections in line with global standards, certain factors need to be taken into consideration.
According to him, “a great number of INEC officials at different levels act contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, what Obasanjo is saying is not new it reflects and reinforces the general view of the larger population of Nigerians, and the larger population of the political parties.
Infact, it is because of that, that some people are asking for INEC to be conducting local government elections.
What he is saying is correct, we need only look at the performance of INEC though not all of their officials are corrupt especially at the National level. A great number of them perform below expectation, even below standard and benchmark, they set for themselves. It has hindered the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
“A lot of people have lost interest, a lot of people have been disenfranchised, and that is why at different levels we have voter apathy and loss of trust and confidence in the electoral process. So what Obasanjo is saying is not new. But the question we must also address is what is the process of ensuring they don’t turn out like the current them?
“If the process of changing them is not credible, if it is not free and fair and allows for public judgement we may end up replacing this INEC with another stooge INEC. If we are happy about the removal what are we going to have as a credible alternative so that we would not have a repeat performance of what we have today.
“I think what Nigerians should also call for is the amendment of the electoral act to make up all the shortcomings in all the elections we have seen thus far including the current round of elections. That way before 2027, we can have authentic INEC and an empowered INEC, an INEC that has the capacity to conduct credible elections that can be deemed free, fair, and credible,” Steve concluded.
Also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ahamba has thrown his full weight on calls by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and other INEC leaders at federal, states, local government levels should be sacked for under performance.
Chief Ahamba remarked in a telephone interview that Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his team including the entire management of the election umpire have made the process of election in the country worse than they met it.
He stated that Chief Obasanjo, as a politician and former president was right to demand for the replacement of the INEC officials to bring some measure of sanity to the system considering the outcome of polls conducted by INEC since after the 2023 general election.
Chief Ahamba also faulted the attitude of National Assembly members who have been paying mere lip service to electoral reforms for a long time without taking concrete steps to do the needful.
He praised Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for hitting the nail on the head by calling for the dismissal of the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and officials of the commission at all levels as part of a reform of the electoral process in Nigeria.
Asked what should be the way forward, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said just like Chief Obasanjo has done, Nigerians, who are true democrats should continue to advocate for reforms with the hope that one day, their expectations for a workable democracy will manifest.
Recall that Chief Obasanjo, in a paper he presented at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, at Yale University, in the United States titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” called for the sack of INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu and officials of the commission and also described the 2023 general election as a “travesty” adding that the reform of the electoral system should be a key agenda for the country.