Mr. Sam Olumekun, a National Commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and head of its Information and Voter Education Committee, is currently serving as acting chairman, according to Naija News.
This temporary role came to light during a meeting with the Labour Party leadership on Wednesday, where Olumekun was referred to as the acting head of the electoral body.
Meanwhile, INEC’s substantive chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, is away on official duty in The Gambia, where he is attending a session of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), The Whistler reports.
By law, an INEC chairman serves a five-year term, with the possibility of renewal. Professor Yakubu first assumed the position on November 9, 2015, and made history in 2020 as the first INEC chairman to be reappointed for a second term under then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
As outlined in Section 157 of the Nigerian Constitution, the president cannot remove the INEC chairman without securing the approval of two-thirds of the Senate.
Earlier this week, a message circulated on WhatsApp alleging that Yakubu had been replaced by Professor Olamilekan Bashiru. The viral message, which lacked a credible source, claimed:
“INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has been replaced with Prof. Bashiru Olamilekan by President Tinubu.”
However, this claim was debunked by O’tega Ogra, the Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Digital and New Media. He took to his 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) account on Monday to label the report as “fake news.”
Professor Yakubu is currently approaching the end of his second tenure and is expected to leave office later this year.
