The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has chided former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his criticism of Nigeria’s recent elections.
The group said it was not fair for the former President to attack the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
They recalled that during the Chinua Achebe leadership forum held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, the former President reportedly, described the 2023 general elections as a travesty and advocated for the appointment of new and credible leaders for the INEC with short-tenure to prevent corruption and re-establish trust.
“As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations. Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government and municipal—city, town, and village levels—with short tenures—to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption and re-establish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens,” the former President was quoted saying.
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He accused the INEC of deliberately sabotaging the process in 2023, saying: “The BVAS and IReV are two technological innovations that, before 2023, were celebrated for their potential to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes.”
However, in a statements made available to journalists, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, accused the former president of laying the foundation for a flawed electoral system in the country.
Okwu alleged that the during the former President ‘s tenure,“ election results were announced even as voters were on queues voting across Nigeria. “Results were written at government houses and politicians’ houses.”
“ ‘Go to Court’ was popularised under Obasanjo leadership, where all that mattered was for INEC to declare the president’s preferred candidate winner and those crying were expected to go to court. “
“Little wonder late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a man with integrity, cried out that the election that brought him to power was deeply flawed. The said election was under Obasanjo presidency.”
He said Obasanjo did not initiate any meaningful electoral reform under his leadership.”If he had done that instead of pursuing an inordinate third term agenda, we wouldn’t have been where we are today. What stopped him from institutionalising BVAS and other technological reforms that would have made our electoral system more credible.”
He called on the former President to stop disparaging all the presidents that have ruled the country after his tenure and urged Nigerians and the international community not to take what Obasanjo said seriously.
