Abuja: Political stakeholders, on Wednesday, urged the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, to consolidate on achievements recorded by his predecessor, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. They said that the next frontier for Nigeria’s democratic consolidation lies in deepening and sustaining institutional culture.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the stakeholders made the call at a colloquium on ‘Ten Years of Leadership of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman of INEC’. Organised by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), the colloquium had the theme: ‘Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Reflections on a Decade of INEC Leadership’.
Keynote Speaker, Prof. Emmanuel Aiyede, a scholar of democracy and election, noted that as INEC enters a post-Yakubu era, the challenge would be two-fold. He emphasized the need to preserve the gains of digital transparency while addressing the operational bottlenecks that accompany them. Aiyede stressed that technology should evolve from tools of election-day administration to instruments of long-term democratic planning, powering data-driven decisions on constituency delimitation, voter education, logistics, and security coordination. He also highlighted the importance of professionalizing INEC’s human capital, as machines can authenticate fingerprints, but only human integrity can authenticate elections.
Aiyede further stated that the future demands a new generation of electoral managers fluent in both law and technology. He pointed out that INEC requires individuals who can navigate not only codes and algorithms but also the ethical dilemmas of power, persuasion, and public trust. As network infrastructure improves and digital literacy expands, the full promise of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) will begin to unfold, reducing human errors and strengthening confidence in the ballot as the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy.
While commending Yakubu, Aiyede remarked that his legacy was profoundly shaped by his achievements of unprecedented institutional stability. As the first INEC Chairman to be appointed to two consecutive terms, Yakubu provided a rare continuity that proved crucial for long-term planning and the implementation of sustained reforms. His administration delivered a suite of technological innovations that fundamentally altered how elections are conducted in Nigeria, with the most visible being the delivery of the BVAS.
On her part, Executive Director of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Faith Nwadishi, stated that under Yakubu’s leadership, INEC recorded remarkable gains, from the deployment of technology through BVAS and IReV to improved logistics planning and stakeholder engagement. These innovations have reduced electoral fraud, curtailed identity theft, and deepened public confidence in parts of the process. Nwadishi called on the new INEC chairman, Prof. Amupitan, to consolidate on the achievements of his predecessor, strengthen security collaboration, improve welfare and logistics for ad hoc staff, and deepen inclusivity and public trust.
Similarly, former Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC in Enugu State, Dr. Emeka Ononamadu, commended Yakubu on the recall processes of some senators during his tenure. Ononamadu noted that only Yakubu had the ‘temerity’ to test the law on the recall of elected representatives. In 2017, Yakubu was the first to test the process of recall as enshrined in Section 69 of the Constitution, in cases involving Sen. Dino Melaye and Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.