INEC Swears In New RECs Including APC Supporter

 

The nine RECs, who were appointed in October, took their oath of office shortly before the quarterly meeting of RECs in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has sworn in nine out of the 10 recently appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) including one exposed by PREMIUM TIMES to be a supporter of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC.

He has also deployed them to different states where they will serve the commission for the next five years. Mr Yakubu said none of them would be deployed to their states of origin.

The nine RECs took their oath of office shortly before the quarterly meeting of RECs in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Yakubu announced their state of deployment shortly after they took the oath of office in Abuja on Tuesday.


INEC deployed Abubakar Ahmed to Borno State, Anugbum Onuoha (Edo), Isah Ehimeakhe (Akwa Ibom), Aminu Idris (Kaduna) and Shehu Wahab (Nasarawa).

Others are Abubakar Dambo (Kebbi), Mohammed Abubakar (Kwara), Oluwatoyin Babalola (Ondo) and Olubunmi Omoseyindemi (Ekiti).

Etekmba Umoren, the REC nominee from Akwa Ibom State, was not sworn in.

Mr Yakubu said he would be sworn in next month when the tenure of the REC representing Akwa Ibom State expires.

“The 10th REC-designate will be sworn in next month on the expiry of the tenure of the REC representing Akwa Ibom State currently deployed to Delta State,” he said.

He commended the Delta State REC, Monday Udo-Tom, for “selfless and dedicated service rendered to the commission and the nation.”


He added that the same appreciation is extended to all the other RECs whose tenure ended after serving meritoriously.

Initial and subsequent confusion

In October, President Bola Tinubu nominated 10 persons to the National Assembly for confirmation as RECs.

The list was changed multiple times, thus confusing observers.


The final list, according to the president’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, contained the following persons and state of origin – Etekamba Umoren (Akwa Ibom), Isah Ehimeakne (Edo), Oluwatoyin Babalola (Ekiti), Abubakar Ma’aji (Gombe), Shehu Wahab (Kwara), Bunmi Omoseyindemi (Lagos) and Aminu Idris (Nasarawa).

Others are Mohammed Yelwa (Niger), Anugbum Onuoha (Rivers), Isma’ila Moyi and (Zamfara).


However, when the Senate started screening the nominees, two names from Niger and Zamfara appeared to have been replaced.

The Senate confirmed Mohammed Abubakar and Abubakar Dambo even though up till this moment, the names of Messrs Moyi and Yelwa, remain on the updated list on the government’s social media handles.

The upper chamber did the confirmation despite protests from some civil society organisations.

Partisan nominees

PREMIUM TIMES found two of them – Mr Umoren and Mr Ehimeakne — to be members of Mr Tinubu’s political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Mr Ehimeakne will now lead INEC’s operations in Akwa Ibom, the home state of Senate President Godswill Akpabio who is believed to have nominated Mr Umoren. Mr Umoren will only be deployed to a state after he is sworn in.

Another two were found to be loyalists of politicians in his government.

Meanwhile, four of the RECs are former staffers of the commission.

This is ‘sacred duty’, ‘no excuses’

Addressing the new RECs, Mr Yakubu described their new roles as a sacred duty and that no excuses will be accepted for subpar performance.

He said the commission would not hesitate to deal with any REC found wanting, adding that they would be held accountable for their actions and inactions.

He said, “You must always be very firm in ensuring fairness and transparency to all. Let me make it clear to you from the outset that you must at all times be guided by the electoral legal framework, the code of conduct for RECs and your good conscience.

“Similarly, I must warn you to understand and operate within the limits of your delegated powers and responsibilities. Our state offices are part and parcel of the commission and we will not hesitate to deal with acts of defiance, indiscretion or transgression on the part of any REC.”