PERSONALITY FOCUS Another Professor Takes on the INEC Challenge

Perhaps, a desk permanently assigned to the academia, the new INEC boss, Professor Mahmud Yakubu must start to address the tasks before him from the word go, writes Ademola Adeyemo

Finally, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a successor to former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. Stepping into Jega’s shoes is another Professor, Mahmud Yakubu, a professor of political history and international studies. Before his new appointment, he was the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Prior to his new appointment, controversies have trailed the choice of a successor for Jega as the coming on board of Mrs. Amina Zakari, who was asked to act as INEC chairman was criticised by the opposition parties, which alleged that the appointment was illegal. They even alleged nepotism by claiming that Zakari is a nephew of President Buhari. Besides, a Lagos-based radical lawyer, Femi Falana claimed that as the INEC was constituted, it would be illegal for the Commission to organise Kogi and Bayelsa elections.

However, jolted by this criticism, President Buhari moved on Wednesday to appoint a new INEC boss and consequently constituted the INEC commissioners. With the new appointments, Mrs. Zakari has been returned as commissioner in charge of North-west along other four new commissioners. They are Soyebi Adedeji Solomon, South-west and Mohammed Mustafa Lecky from the South-south.

However, Yakubu will be stepping into a big shoe left by Jega. The former INEC boss wrote his name on a fairly good side of history, having conducted an acceptable election, which no doubt met the average standard by the international community.

For instance, Jega it was that introduced the Card Reader Machine, which gave the 2015 elections some form of credibility. Jega not only successfully conducted the elections but supervised a smooth transition of power from a ruling party to an opposition party.

This is why many observers believe that his successor, who is said to be an expert in guerrilla warfare, terrorism and counter-terrorism, must follow suit and even outperform Jega. Yakubu had served as an Assistant Secretary, Finance and Administration, at the 2014 National Conference under the Jonathan led administration.

Yakubu is the first and only first class graduate of history from the North till date, who was on secondment from the Nigeria Defence Academy, where he was a lecturer to the Federal Ministry of Education.

He was also a member of the very dynamic Oby Ezekwesili Educational Transformation Team, which received plaudits from Nigerians for their far-reaching recommendations for the turnaround of the fortunes of education in Nigeria.

Even then, there are many problems in the nation’s electoral system, which the new INEC boss will inherit and how well he is able to deal with the issues will determine the success or failure of future elections in the country. The first problem is the malfunctioning of the card reader machines imported for the last general election.

INEC will therefore have to get its acts right by ensuring the reliability and workability of the Card reader machines. The haphazard way some of the machines worked during the last elections go a long way in disenfranchising a lot of voters and aided some unscrupulous characters to commit electoral malpractices. Yakubu will also have to work hard to sanitise the INEC against widespread corruption in the commission. It is on record that some electoral officers aided and abated some people to commit electoral malpractices.

The new INEC boss will have to work hard to prevent multiple voting, snatching and stuffing of Ballot Boxes even though this is more of the security wing of the commission. But his leadership must devise the means for the security personnel to enforce.

Thus, how to detect and prevent the use of fake Ballot Papers, how to detect and prevent fraudulent declaration of results, how to ensure and secure timely distribution of election materials as well as secure the voting environment are crucial. Other problems include how to bring greater transparency and accountability to voting and result collation procedures, minimising the role of career/permanent INEC staff in collation and announcement of results.

Yakubu was born in Bauchi in 1962 and had his early education at Kobi primary school from where he proceeded to the Teachers’ college, Toro. He studied at the University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University). He later gained admission into the prestigious University of Oxford, where he bagged a Doctor of Philosophy Degree with specialisation in Nigerian History at the age of 29 in 1991.

He was a recipient of the Bauchi State government scholarship to study at both the Cambridge and Oxford Universities in England and his outstanding intellectual artistry at Cambridge further earned him the Scholarship of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.

He was the first person from the North to graduate with a first class honours in History, a feat that has remained unrivalled and unbroken till date as the first and only person from the whole of Northern Nigeria to have obtained a first class honours degree in History. He is also a professor of political history and international studies.

Yakubu is an expert in guerrilla warfare, terrorism and counter-terrorism. He taught War and Society in Pre-Colonial Africa. He was executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. Under Yakubu’s leadership at TETFund, a National Book Development Fund that supported one hundred and two (102) journals of professional associations was established.

In addition, over five thousand, two hundred (5200) lecturers from tertiary institutions nationwide were sponsored by TETFund for postgraduate studies.

Adeyemi College of Education once conferred Yakubu, its fellowship award in 2013. He was conferred with the award for educational development and leadership. In 2013, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) bestowed honorary Fellowship on him.

He was a three time-time winner of the Overseas Research Student (ORS) Award by the London-based Committee of Vice-Chancellors of United Kingdom (UK) Universities.

He was also a proud recipient of the competitive Commonwealth Scholarship by the Association of Commonwealth Universities tenable at the University of Oxford. Yakubu was appointed to serve as assistant secretary at the 2014 national conference.

He, no doubt, boasts a good resume that could fiercely embrace and wrestle the challenge at INEC. His background training even supports a fight to victory. However, he cannot afford to take chances because he is taking over a body in which a majority of Nigerians and even the international community take a huge interest. All eyes are therefore on him as he leads the INEC to the Promised Land. In an article titled, ‘Minority Leader in Majority Crisis’, published in the October 21 edition of the paper, we stated that a former first lady of Kwara State, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, was at a time a guest of both the EFCC and the ICPC. That is not correct. While it is true that Mrs. Saraki was invited by the EFCC to answer questions to some charges, the ICPC never did.

We regret the error. - Editor