Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), revealed on Saturday that a member of the camp of the incoming president, Senator Bola Tinubu, nominated Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for reappointment for a second term as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After casting his ballot in his hometown, Ubima Ward 8 Unit 14, Amaechi expressed displeasure with the voting process and decried what he termed a total failure of governance in Nigeria.
He stated that his party was not competing against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, but rather against INEC and the police.
According to him, Yakubu also worked with the governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, when Wike was Minister of State for Education and Yakubu was Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
“Governance in the country is a total failure – a complete failure. The police are assisting the PDP in arresting APC and SDP members. In every community, people who will not vote for the PDP are being warned with gongs not to show up or they will be beaten. Nobody has spoken while people are being beaten and the governor (Wike) has declared people wanted.
“The governor has no authority to list anyone as wanted. The IG (Inspector General of Police) is ineffective, and no one else is either – total failure. In Rivers, voter apathy is prevalent. “No one wants to come out because they are afraid. INEC is a complete failure. There were those among us who opposed Yakubu Mahmood’s reappointment. The individual who nominated him belongs to Tinubu’s camp. What are your expectations?” Mahmood served as Executive Secretary of TETFund under Governor Wike in Rivers State; hence, in Rivers, the APC and other parties are competing not against the PDP, but against INEC and the police.”
Amaechi had earlier recounted on ARISE NEWS Channel how Wike orchestrated the arrest of a large number of opposition political party members on election day and declared a large number of others wanted, wondering where Wike obtained the authority to designate people wanted.
He remarked that the acts of the governor of Rivers State were a result of the complete breakdown of governance in the nation.
But, Governor Wike, who was accredited at his Obio Akpor Ward 9 Unit 7 and voted at 11:16 a.m., stated, “I can say that they (INEC) have done a fantastic job, unlike what we experienced on February 25. They are significantly better than what we had in February.”
