2023 Elections: INEC Chairman Should Be Held Accountable, Says Ene Obi

The immediate past Convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Ene Obi says the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, should account for the conduct of the 2023 elections.

Obi, speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily, said the INEC chairman should be probed, particularly for the funds used in conducting the polls.

“I am not the one to even demand,” she said Tuesday. “Are Nigerians asking questions to the INEC chairman or the commission itself?

“They got billions of naira and what we were asking them yesterday [during a meeting with CSOs], some of my colleagues pulled it out. I have called severally that you went into the election with over 173,000 polling units, that is 173,606 polling units for the national presidential and the national assembly elections.

“How many polling units did you hold the election? We ask for an audit because each of the polling units is marked by the personnel that has been paid for by the people of Nigeria. Should Nigerians be asking, is it only Ene Obi that would be asking this question?” she queried.

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The CSO situation room ex-covener urged Nigerians at large to agitate for accountability on how every money allocated was spent.

“As a Nigerian should we stand upright and demand accountability? I demand accountability and say for every kobo that was taken it should be committed.

“Women are dying on the maternity death roll, children are dying and then we are talking about you spending billions that should have built so many hospitals and then you are not accounting for it.

“They should account for it, everybody should go down to accountability, for every of that penny, it must be accounted for,” she said.

Her comment comes in the wake of the INEC chairman and national commissioners of the Commission meeting with accredited local elections observer groups and civil society organisations.

The meeting, held at the INEC’s headquarters in Abuja, was aimed at reviewing the 2023 polls. It was the first public meeting between the electoral umpire, members of the CSOs, and local elections observer groups since the exercise.