The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has noted the reappointment of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by President Muhammadu Buhari and has charged him to use the fresh term in office to redeem his image.
The main opposition party said in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, on Wednesday, that the re-appointment entrusts on Prof Yakubu the fate, hope and future of over 200 million Nigerians as well as that of generations yet unborn.
It said in the light of the five-year extension, the PDP hopes that “the failures, disappointments and miscarriages that characterized the first five years tenure of Yakubu will have no place in the new order.”
The PDP added: “It is therefore instructive to state that with his re-appointment, Prof Yakubu has been given an ample time and opportunity to redeem himself, the image of the commission and preparation for credible, free and fair elections in our country.
“At least, with this reappointment whatever happens in our future elections cannot be ascribed to inexperience and lack of adequate preparedness on the side of INEC.
“Furthermore, we consider this reappointment by President Buhari as an impetus to demonstrate readiness for a free fair and credible election, which Mr President had always promised to bequeath at the end of his second and final term in office in 2023.
“We, therefore, charge the INEC Chairman to spend the nearly two years ahead of the next general election to rejig the commission, work out appropriate electoral policies and guidelines and push for the amendment of the Electoral Act, in conjunction with the National Assembly, to give our nation a credible electoral process.
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“Professor Yakubu must be mindful of the aphorism that ‘to whom much is given, much more is expected.’
“His reappointment, therefore, comes with a lot of expectations by Nigerians. He must quickly take a painstaking look into issues that aid manipulations, rigging, violence and inconclusive elections which marred most of the exercises conducted in his previous tenure.
“Prof Yakubu should note that the future, stability and corporate existence of our nation have been entrusted in his hands as credible election is the bedrock of any democratic society.”
The party urged the National Assembly, particularly, the Senate, to “focus on these pertinent issues in the course of screening Prof Yakubu to ensure that the failures of the past are not given accommodation in the new era.”
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