Meet commissioners likely to succeed Yakubu as INEC acting chair

The re-nominated Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is expected to hand over to one of the remaining six national commissioners whose tenures have not lapsed.

Yakubu, whose first tenure ends on Monday November 9, was re-appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 27 as the chairman of the commission for a record second term in office.

The reappointment is, however, subject to a Senate confirmation after its resumption of plenary in November 24.

Yakubu was first appointed INEC chairman in November 2015 to succeeded Attahiru Jega, who supervised the 2015 general election.

Yakubu supervised the 2019 General Election and off-cycle elections in states in Kogi, Edo and Ondo states.

This is as the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voters Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, told Daily Trust that one of the national commissioners Engr. Abubakar Ahmed Nahuche, last week voluntarily retired, on health ground.

Okoye who declined to mentioned who Yakubu would likely hand over to, told our correspondent that everyone should wait till Monday to see who among the remaining six national commissioners Prof. Yakubu would hand over to as acting chairman of the commission.

Also, the Chief Press Secretary to the Prof. Yakubu, Mr. Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, told Daily Trust that, he did not have any information on who his boss would hand over to.

“I don’t have any information on that. I think we should all wait till Monday afternoon when this will be publicly known to everyone,” Oyekanmi said.

Yakubu, a Professor of Political History and International Studies, became the fifth chairman of INEC since its establishment by a former Head of States, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) in 1998.

Daily Trust reports that Yakubu who hails from Bauchi State in the north-east geo-political zone of the country, was born in 1962.

Apart from Prof. Yakubu as INEC Chairman, there are 12 National Commissioners.

They are Retired Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu, Malam Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, Engr. Abubakar Nahuche, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, and Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo.

Others are Prof. Antonia Taiye Okoosi-Simbine, Prince Adedeji Solomon Soyebi, Dr. Muhammed Mustafa Lecky, Hajiya Amina Bala Zakari and Barrister Festus Okoye.

Apart from Yakubu, five National Commissioners whose tenure has expired and are not eligible for re-appointment were Mrs Amina Bala Zakari (Jigawa) who had acted as INEC chairman before Yakubu took over, North-west; Prof. Antonia Taiye Okoosi-Simbine (Kogi), North-central; Alhaji Baba Shettima Arfo (Borno), North-east; Dr. Mohammed Mustafa Lecky (Edo), South-south and Prince Adedeji Solomon Soyebi (Ogun), South-west.

With the voluntary retirement of Engr. Abubakar Ahmed Nahuche, as confirmed by, Mr. Okoye, Daily Trust present a brief on the remining six national commissioners not due for retirement and who may be named as acting Chairman of INEC, they are Retired Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu, Malam Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola; who were sworn-in on 5 December 2016; and Barrister Festus Okoye, who was sworn-in on 21 July 2018.

Retired Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu

Retired Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu was born on 6th September, 1957 at Gombe, Gombe State. He had his early education in Gombe, Kaduna and Maiduguri between 1964 -1975.

He joined the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) as a Potential Pilot in June 1976 and was commissioned Pilot Officer into Air Traffic Control (ATC) Specialty in 1979.

He rose steadily and progressively through to the heist professional rank of Air Vice Marshal (AVM) in 2007. He voluntarily retires from service of NAF in 2013.

He also attended the senior command and staff course at Ghana Armed Forces Staff College (GAFSC) Teshie, Accra 1991–1992, finishing well above average with a strong recommendation for appointment as Directing Staff.

The INEC National Commissioner representing north-east and supervising Adamawa, Taraba and Borno states is married with children and grandchildren and chose poultry farming and long-range driving as his hobbies.

He is the chairman of the INEC Tenders Board (TB) Committee.

Mohammed Kudu Haruna

Mallam Mohammed Haruna was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, on September 22, 1951.

He had his primary school education at Tudun Wada Junior Primary School, Kano (1957 to 1960) and Kuka Primary School, Kano (1961 to 1964).

The renowned journalist and administrator attended Government College, Bida, his home town, between 1965 and 1969, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, between 1971 and 1975, Glasgow College of Technology, Scotland, in 1979/1980, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1983/1984 and Harvard Advanced Management Programme in 1995.

He worked in New Nigerian Newspapers Company Ltd. between 1976 and 1989 where he rose from a reporter to managing director.
He was also a co-founder and chief executive of the rested Citizen news magazine between 1990 and 1994.

Mallam Haruna served in the military administration of General Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar as his chief press secretary between October 1998 and May 1999.

The INEC National Commissioner is a Fellow of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and African Center for Democratic Governance.

Representing the north-central, Haruna also supervises Kwara, Kogi and Nasarawa states.

He is the Chairman Board Of Survey and Technical Equipment Acquisition Committee (BOSTEAC) of INEC.

Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu

Prof. Ibeanu, prior to his appointment to INEC in 2016, was Professor of Political Science and concurrently Research Professor in Development Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He began his academic career at the University of Nigeria in 1983 and rose to the rank of professor in 2000.

He was at various times the Dean of Social Sciences, Director of the Institute for Development Studies and Dean of Postgraduate Studies at the University.

In 2010, Ibeanu was appointed as the Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) to the Chairman INEC. In that capacity, he was an important member of the team that designed innovations that transformed the conduct of elections in Nigeria between 2010 and 2015.

His commitment to establishing INEC as a knowledge-driven and globally respected EMB led to several institution building activities at the Commission, including the production of a strategic plan, a communication policy, a gender policy, as well as creating a new mechanism for Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs) voting.

Ibeanu representing the south-east also supervises Imo, Abia and Ebonyi states and the Chairman INEC Committee on Electoral Operations and Logistics Committee (EOLC).

May Agbamuche-Mbu

Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, a seasoned legal practitioner with over three decades of experience working with diverse clients in both the Public and Private sector, hails from Delta State though she was born in Kano Kano State where she attended St. Louis Secondary School.

She later graduating from the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1984 with an LLB in Law.

After her call to the Bar in 1985, she attended the College of Law, London and qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Between March 2010 and November 2011 May served on the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC) as the sole solicitor, evaluating an extensive nationwide portfolio of major unfinished public projects in Nigeria and in March 2016, May was further appointed a member of the Ministerial Committee set up to prepare ‘The Road Map for the Solid Minerals Sector’.

Supervising Edo, Rivers and Bayelsa states, Mrs. May represents the south-south and is also the INEC Committee Chairman on Legal Services, Clearance and Complaints Committee (LSCCC).

Dr. Adekunle Ladipo Ogunmola

Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola was born on the 7th May, 1952 in Oyo, Oyo State.

He had his Secondary Education at Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo from 1964 to 1969.

He was briefly at Government College Ibadan (GCI) between January and April 1970; from where he gained admission into the University of Ibadan through a concessional examination and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science with 2nd Class Upper in 1974.

Dr. Ogunmola took up Federal appointment as INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) from July 2010 to July 2015.

He was later appointed as INEC National Electoral Commissioner in December 2016.

He has peculiar interest in farming, reading, sports and recreation and is also a member of the Rotary Club; Oyo Metropolis, Oyo Premier Club, The Oyo Pinnacle Club (TOPIC), Oyo Tennis Club and Ibadan Social Group (ISG).

As National Commissioner representing the south-west, Dr. Ogunmola supervises Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states and is also the Chairman INEC Committee on Outreach and Partnerships Committee (OPC).

Barrister Festus Okoye

Barrister Festus Okoye, a lawyer, human rights activist and an expert in constitutional and electoral law was the Executive Director at the Human Rights Monitor (HRM).

A Barrister and Solicitor at the Supreme Court of Nigeria Okoye was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985

He was a pro-democracy and human rights activist.

Okoye who once told Daily Trust that his first passion was Mass Communication, said he wanted to be a journalist before a friend who went to study law influenced him to change his position.

Representing the south-east and supervising Benue, Enugu and Anambra states, Okoye is also the Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC).