Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, has refuted claims
that Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), once worked under him.
On Saturday, Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister for
transportation, claimed that the INEC chairman worked under Wike as the
executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
Amaechi also claimed that Yakubu was nominated for
reappointment as INEC chairman by an individual in the camp of Bola Tinubu, the
president-elect.
The governor, in a broadcast on Tuesday on the outcome of
the March 18 elections, debunked Amaechi’s claim and said his outburst that the
just conducted general election by INEC was the worst in Nigeria’s history, is
“ludicrous”.
“The truth was that
Mahmood Yakubu never worked under me. Both of us worked in the Federal Ministry
of Education. He was the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust
Fund, supervised by the minister of education, while I was the minister of
state for education,” Wike said.
“At any rate, was Mahmood Yakubu INEC’s chairman in the 2015
general elections in Rivers State when we defeated him and his political party
as a sitting Governor and director-general of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential
campaign?
“Was it not the same Mahmood Yakubu that conducted the 2019
general election, which the APC and President Mohammadu Buhari won?
“Was he working for
Atiku Abubakar of the PDP when, as a sitting super minister of transportation,
he could not win 25% for president Buhari in Rivers state in the 2019 general
election?”
Wike said Amaechi’s claim of opposing the reappointment of
Yakubu because he was nominated by someone in Tinubu’s camp was tantamount to
public incitement and a threat to national security.
He also questioned why it took this long for Amaechi, who
served as a minister for over seven years under President Muhammadu Buhari, to
speak out about his opposition to Yakubu’s reappointment.
“In saner climes, law enforcement agencies should have
invited such a devious and malignant character for hate speech, public
incitement, and threat to national security, public safety, and order,” he
said.
“By his mischievous
statements, Rotimi Amaechi attempted to attribute, locate and blame his
infamous political failures and frustrations in Rivers State on the INEC’s chairman.”
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