Former INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega has defended the current chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, stating that politicians are to blame for the challenges faced in the 2023 elections.
In an interview with Channels Television which was monitored by Parallel Facts on Monday, Jega said that many of the areas facing serious challenges are those where politicians have directly influenced the people.
“We have a tendency to heap blame on the leadership of an electoral management body, and I have had my fair share,” Jega stated.
He further explained that politicians have more or less circumscribed the powers of the national commission and the chairman.
Jega, who claimed not to have any evidence of Yakubu’s complicity in electoral malpractices, pointed out that some reckless politicians are the cause of electoral malfeasance in the country.
“It is unfortunate that it has happened under the watch of Yakubu Mahmood,” he said.
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“From what I know, a lot of these challenges that have undermined the integrity of the electoral process are traceable to some reckless politicians who are bypassing the commission and reaching out directly to some compromised staff of INEC who are doing all these things, and unfortunately, the poor chairman and the commission will have to take blame for it,” he added.
Despite the challenges, Jega believes that progress and development in elections in Nigeria have not reversed.
“We are making incremental positive stages in the electoral arena. We have not reversed, we have made progress,” he said.
He also praised the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the new electoral acts 2022 for adding value to the 2023 elections.
However, he expressed concern about the attitude and mindset of many reckless politicians, which he believes has remained the same or possibly worsened.
Recall that Jega had in an interview with ARISE TV last month, contradicted his recent stance on INEC chairman and the 2023 elections.
Last month on ARISE TV, Jega had stated that there is a need to investigate why the BVAS failed during the last presidential election.
He questioned why uploading specifically with regards to the presidential election failed, a task that should be done by INEC in a very transparent manner.
“What failure was experienced on an election day with regards to BVAS? The major failure, as I said earlier, relates to the uploading of information as promised by the INEC Chairman on the IREV.
“And I believe that we need to interrogate why uploading specifically with regards to the presidential election failed. This has to be done not just by INEC but in a very transparent manner.”