Buhari swears in INEC Commissioners

President Muhammadu Buhari has sworn in the newly-appointed Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The swearing-in was conducted inside the Council chamber of the State House Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The ceremony was done shortly before the commencement of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council.

The nominees were earlier confirmed by the Senate and were sworn-in by the president as required by Section 154(1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended.

The six nominees are Ogunmola Ladipo, May Agbamuche, Abubakar Nahuche and Okechukwu Ibianu. Others are Mohammed Haruna and Ahmad Muazu.

Mr. Ladipo, from Oyo State, was born on May 7, 1952. Until his swearing-in Wednesday, he was the Resident Independent Electoral Commission, REC, in Lagos State.

Mrs. Agbamuche, a lawyer, is the Editor Thisday Lawyer, a publication of Thisday Newspaper.

Abubakar Nahuche, from Zamfara State, was born on May 19, 1953. He is a retired Army officer and a former CEO of defunct NITEL.

Mr. Ibianu, from Anambra State, was born on November 3,1959. He is a former Technical adviser to INEC from 2010-2015.

Mr. Mohammed Haruna, from Niger state was born on September 22, 1951.

A seasoned journalist, Mr. Mohammed was an editor of New Nigerian Newspaper and former spokesperson of former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Ahmad Muazu, a retired Air Vice Marshall of Nigerian Airforce was born on September 6, 1967 in Gombe.

In a brief remark after the swearing in, President Buhari said the appointees were persons of integrity and express the belief that such integrity will come to bear in the discharge of their responsibilities.

” This administration will demand of you to be firm and fair. What this administration expects is that after we have left, Nigerians will look at the political history and know that we served Nigeria.

“We want every Nigeria to use his PVC processed by card reader, that they have been given the opportunity and security in their various constituencies to elect who they want to elect. The rest is left to their conscience and to God,” the president said.

Speaking on behalf of the other new commissioners, Mr. Ibianu thanked the president
and Nigerians for “the challenging opportunity to serve the country”.

He said all the commissioners have pledged to to discharge their responsibilities in line with the oath of allegiance and office they just sworn to
” We ask Nigerians for support to continue to improve the advances recorded in the electoral processes so far,” he said.