Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that the All Progressives Congress would not have emerged victorious in the 2015 general elections if Mahmood Yakubu had been the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission at the time.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV late Tuesday, Amaechi commended former INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, for overseeing a transparent electoral process that enabled the APC to gain registration and eventually win at the polls.
He stressed that Jega’s impartiality and adherence to due process were instrumental to the party’s success.
“The current chairman of INEC, if he was the chairman of INEC in 2015, we would not have won. That’s an important point. May God bless (Attahiru) Jega. Because the ground rules were clear. The current chairman of INEC can only be compared to Iwu,” Amaechi said.
“When we were to register APC, Jega opened the door and we complied with the registration requirements. He got APC registered. The current man, if you comply with all these, he would not register you,” he added.
Amaechi also accused Yakubu of bias, suggesting that Nigeria’s electoral process has regressed under his leadership.
“Already, INEC is biased. So, the only thing I can tell you now is that, looking at the way Nigeria has run the election, even the Option A4 led us forward. At least a lot of transparency. You were sure of what was going on.
“Then we came back to meet people like Iwu and others, and the current one, and things got worse. So, you don’t know whether to say we are progressing or we are regressing. There’s a state capture using the electoral institution as a machine,” he said.
