Former Vice President and the 2023 presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has decried the nomination of the immediate past chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu as an ambassadorial nominee.
The ex vice president stated that such a nomination raises serious concerns, appears as a quid pro quo rather than recognition of merit and sends a wrong message to the current leadership of the electoral body.
He wrote via X:
Let me state without ambiguity: under no circumstance would I, as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, nominate the immediate past INEC Chairman for an ambassadorial position.
Such a nomination raises serious concerns. It risks appearing as a quid pro quo rather than a recognition of merit. It presents terrible optics for an administration already struggling with credibility. It sends the wrong message to the current @inecnigeria leadership; that partisan, compromised, or poorly executed elections may ultimately be rewarded. And most importantly, it is morally indefensible for an umpire at the centre of one of the most disputed elections in our history to become a beneficiary of its outcome.
This is not the path to strengthening our democracy or restoring public trust in our institutions. -AA