Did Mahmood Yakubu Appoint Wike’s Cousin as Rivers REC?

Mahmood Yakubu, whose public biography on Wikipedia contains wording that promotes the subject through exaggeration of unnoteworthy facts, is also the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) since appointed to office by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

After Prof. Mahmood Yakubu conducted one of the most controversial general elections of 2023, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) swore in 9 out of 10 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on Tuesday, the 12th December with immediate deployment to respective geo-political zones with none meant to serve in his/her State of Origin. The names and deployment locations of the 9 newly sworn-in RECs are as follows;

Abubakar Dambo Sarkin Pawa – Kebbi ii. Abubakar Ma’aji Ahmed- Borno iii. Dr. Anugbum Onuoha- Edo iv. Ehimeakhe Shaka Isah- Akwa Ibom v. Mal. Aminu Idris – Kaduna vi. Mohammed Sadiq Abubakar – Kwara vii. Mrs Oluwatoyin O. Babalola – Ondo viii. Olubunmi O. Omoseyindemi – Ekiti ix. Shehu L. Wahab Nasarawa.

At the meeting held at the INEC Conference Room Abuja on Tuesday, 12th December 2023, nine of the 10 RECs screened and confirmed by the National Assembly were sworn in at the ceremony. The tenth REC-designate, which has not yet been made public, will be sworn in next month on the expiry of the tenure of the REC representing Akwa Ibom State currently deployed to Delta State.

The third newly sworn-in REC, Dr Anugbum Onuoha, a direct cousin of the FCT minister Nyesom Wike, is the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Edo State. Onuoha was the immediate past Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ward 9 in Obio-Akpor LGA, Rivers State. Dr Onuoha was also a former Special Adviser to Wike on Lands in the immediate past administration.

Read: Gov. Sanwo-Olu presents the 2024 Budget to Lagos State House of Assembly

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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