Former Minister of Transportation and one-time Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has delivered a blistering critique of INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, stating that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not have been victorious in 2015 if Yakubu had been in charge.
During a Tuesday night interview on Arise TV, Amaechi lauded former INEC boss Attahiru Jega for ensuring a transparent electoral process in 2015 that allowed the then-opposition APC to unseat the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“The current chairman of INEC, if he was the chairman of INEC in 2015, we would not have won,” Amaechi said. “May God bless Jega. The ground rules were clear.”
Amaechi emphasized that Jega’s commitment to fairness enabled the APC’s registration and eventual victory. He compared Jega’s tenure favorably against both Yakubu and former INEC chairman Maurice Iwu, suggesting a decline in electoral integrity under Yakubu’s leadership.
“Already, INEC is biased,” Amaechi continued. “The current man, if you comply with all the requirements, he still would not register you.”
Amaechi accused INEC under Yakubu of political bias and undermining democracy lamenting what he described as a loss of transparency compared to systems like Option A4, used during Nigeria’s 1993 elections—widely considered one of the most credible polls in the nation’s history.
“Option A4 brought transparency. But with Yakubu, it’s worse. There’s now a state capture using the electoral institution as a machine,” he added.
His comments come amidst sustained criticism of the 2023 general elections, with many Nigerians expressing concern over logistical delays, technical failures, and perceived irregularities in result collation and transmission.
Despite INEC’s repeated assurances of neutrality, the credibility of the 2023 polls—particularly the performance of the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and IReV (INEC Result Viewing Portal)—remains hotly contested in public discourse.
Amaechi’s remarks are likely to intensify national scrutiny of Nigeria’s electoral commission, reigniting calls for comprehensive electoral reform and greater institutional accountability ahead of future elections.
