INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu Says Buhari Is Not Forcing Him To Carry Out His Political Wishes

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Friday debunked the claim in some quarters that President Muhammadu Buhari is forcing him and the commission to carry out his political wishes.

Speaking against the backdrop of the recently concluded legislative rerun elections in Rivers state, Yakubu pointed out that at his present stage in life, he cannot be goaded by anybody into doing what is unlawful.

He spoke at the opening of a two-day workshop organised by the commission for some journalists in Abuja, explaining that his lifetime ambition was to be a university lecturer and that having achieved that by divine providence, whatever he now does in life is more like a bonus.

When asked whether he was under any pressure from the President to do his bidding, he said; “It is too late to be intimidated by anybody. For what purpose? Directly or indirectly, I have never been approached by anybody to do anything other than what obtains in the law.

“There is no influence on INEC. The best marker are the elections we have concluded. Which party won what? There is no pressure on me or any of the (national) commissioners,” the INEC boss averred.