Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been urged to fire the Commission’s Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Femi Odubiyi.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that the call was made by a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, on Sunday.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the PDP chieftain claimed that the INEC chairman should remove Odubiyi because of his close relationship with President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Yakubu, according to George, should explain how Odubiyi, a former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State, came to be in charge of “a critical department before, during, and after elections.”
He claimed Odubiyi was a mole deliberately planted in INEC to subvert the will of the Nigerian electorate, noting that Yakubu only needed to explain to Nigerians how a former commissioner in the employ of Lagos State became the Director of the ICT Department in INEC.
He submitted that;
Today, millions of Nigerians are disputing the outcome of the February 25 Presidential elections and some candidates are already in court. BVAS and IReV are very critical in the legal process that is going on.
Nigerians are already asking Prof. Mahmood Yakubu: How did this man, former Commissioner in Lagos State, find his way into INEC, not just any Department but a critical one like ICT?
That department is very sensitive. Why should a follower of a presidential candidate be deployed to man a sensitive department like ICT in an election year?
How did he even get his way into INEC? Do we have acolytes of Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and other candidates heading other departments in INEC? Nigerians need to know.
Was there no background check by security agents before this man was chosen to head ICT? How do we want the world to look at us when somebody close to a presidential candidate decides what goes on in the ICT Department?
Now that other candidates are in court, is this not the time for this fellow to be redeployed? Who appointed him and when was he appointed? Nigerians need to know.
How did he get in there? Was Yakubu sleeping? How come to Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso and others did not put their contacts there? These are posers the INEC Chairman must unravel.
The PDP chieftain called for an intensive investigation from all security agencies of what he called “this intriguing matter of national interest.”
It is stated clearly in the electoral law that election results from the polling units must be transmitted into INEC Server, and there must not be any interloper.
I call on all security apparatus of government to quickly wade into this matter by inviting Odubiyi, to explain whatever role he has played and tell Nigerians how he got into INEC ICT unit, from being a Commissioner in Lagos State. The masquerade must be unveiled. This unholy alliance that has pushed our country towards precipice must be thoroughly checked and nipped in the bud, George added.
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