Barrister Yakubu Arowoshola Eleto
Appoint Yorubaman As INEC Boss, Lawyer Urges Pres. Buhari
As the tenure of Professor Mahmud Yakub, the current chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is gradually coming to an end, a Lagos based lawyer, Yakubu Arowoshola A. Eleto, has counselled President Muhammadu Buhari, to appoint his successor from any state in southwest region of Nigeria. 
Yakubu said his call for a Southwesterner as the next head of INEC is due to the zone not ever being at the helms of affair of the electoral Umpire since it was established in 1964.
The lawyer cum activist in his open letter to president buhari captioned “the need to appoint a full-blooded Yorubaman from southwestern Nigeria as INEC Head, comes October, 2020”, which he said will truly presents INEC as been of Nigerians.
Yakubu who chronological listed the past and current heads of the electoral body since inception, said it is de-service to the people of Southwest of the country not to have headed the electoral body till date.
Yakubu statement read in part: “my mind was adverted to the fact that since 1958 when general elections were conducted in Nigeria no Yoruba man from South-West Nigeria has been appointed as the Federal Electoral umpire. It is seriously sadden and emboldens the age long conspiracy against the Yoruba people in Nigeria.
List of past and current leadership of INEC as presented by Yakubu. “The followings are Federal Electoral body Chairmen and their States since 1964; Chief Eyo Esau, 1964-1966 an Ibibio Man from Calabar, Cross River State; Chief Michael Ani, 1976-1979 from Cross-River State: Justice Victor Ovie Whisky 1980- 1983 from Old Bendel State; Professor Eme Awa, 1987-1989 from Delta State; Professor Humphrey Nwosu, 1989-1993 from Anambra State; Professor Okon Uya1993-1994 from Cross-River State; Chief Summer Karibi Dagogo-Jack 1994-1998 from Rivers State; Justice Ephraim Omorose Ibukun Akpata 1998-1999 from EDO State; Sir (Dr.) Abel Guobadia, 2000 – 2005 from Edo State; Professor Maurice Iwu 2005-2010 (A man I respect for his scholarship but conducted the worst election in Nigeria’s history) from Imo State; Professor Attahiru Jega 2010-2015 from Kebbi State and Professor Mahmud Yakubu October 2015 till date from Bauchi State
“We can deduce from the facts above that since 1958 no full blooded Yoruba Man from the South-Western part of Nigeria had been appointed as INEC umpires. It is therefore worrisome to me why the Yoruba nation must continuously be marginalized in this kind of appointment. We have international scholars who have the entire requirement that the government might be looking for in this appointment.
“Although, by the combine provisions of Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the power to appoint the Chairman from any region in Nigeria, but the President this time around should in considering appointment consider a region which has not served as the Federal Electoral boss in the past.
“We have capable professors in the south west, we also have capable and successful personalities in their chosen area of endeavors who are of unquestionable integrity, non-partisan, of age and who have the required capacity to organize all Federal Elections from the President down to the State Houses of Assembly Elections.
“This is just a compassionate call to the President to consider our people in the South-West in this key appointment”.
