President Muhammadu Buhari today swore in the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, in the council chamber.
While swearing him in, Buhari made a pledge to accord respect to the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), promising that he would not interfere with its functions.
The president who stressed that he can’t afford to fail Nigerians in future elections charged the new INEC helmsman to make the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria, his priority.
He observed that all Nigerians have a responsibility to safeguard the sanctity of democracy including transparent electoral process, free and fair elections.
The President stated that a situation where people hide under technicalities to deny the citizens their rights is unacceptable. He called on state governments to make their electoral bodies to work for the benefit of all.
The President also decried a situation where elections are cancelled without investigations into what led to such cancellations so as to prosecute offenders.
He stated that perpetrators of electoral violence should be made to face the full weight of the law.