Senate recieves Buhari’s request to confirm Mahmood Yakubu as INEC chair

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the Senate seeking the confirmation of Mahmood Yakubu as the chairperson of the country’s national electoral commission for a second and final term.

His request was contained in a letter which was read out by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary on Tuesday.

Mr Buhari had on October 27 announced his decision to reappoint the former INEC boss.

He supervised the 2019 general and off-cycle elections in states such as Kogi, Edo and Ondo.

In the letter, the president said his decision was in accordance with the provision of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

Mr Yakubu was first appointed INEC chairperson in November 2015 succeeding Attahiru Jega, who supervised the 2015 general elections.

Some of the elections he surpervised have been criticised by many and commended by a few others.

Already, lawmakers of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party have opposed his reappointment as they vowed to block his confirmation.

This is majorly because they believe the 2019 general election was marred by irregularities leading to INEC saying they had no server only for it to use the server during the Edo and elections this year.

The president’s request will be forwarded to the appropriate committee for further legislative work on another legislative day.