The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), has asked President Bola Tinubu to make public the details of the process for appointing the next chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a letter dated September 27 and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said Nigerians deserve to know the number and names of candidates for INEC chairman and whether the Council of State has been consulted, as constitutionally required.
“A transparent and accountable process would serve legitimate public interests”, SERAP said.
SERAP cited Section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides that the INEC chairman “shall be appointed by the President and the appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate”.
The same section mandates the president to consult the Council of State before making the appointment.
SERAP also called on Tinubu to “use the opportunity of the appointment of a new INEC chairman to reconsider your appointment of at least three alleged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of the INEC and to nominate non-members of a political party as replacements.
“The selection and appointment process for Yakubu’s replacement cannot and should not be ‘a closed shop’. Openness and transparency in the process would improve public trust in the Commission’s independence and impartiality”.
The group stressed that secrecy in the appointment would undermine INEC’s credibility. “Anyone to be appointed as INEC chairman must clearly be non-partisan, independent, impartial and neutral”, it added.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s tenure will elapse in November.
Yakubu, who was appointed by the Late President Muhammadu Buhari, has spent two terms of five years each.
