The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has come under fire for saying that Ghana learnt from Nigeria in its just concluded election.
Yakubu was commending Ghana for the conduct of its presidential election that saw John Mahama emerge the winner.
According to Yakubu, Ghana learnt from Nigeria in the area of managing constituency election results.
“Although Ghana is not a federal system, they learnt from Nigeria where you have returning officers who announce results for parliamentary elections in the various constituencies around the country. Only the presidential election results come to Accra”.
“In Nigeria, this is what we have done and they borrowed a leave from us, and this is the second time they are implementing that.”
The INEC chairman’s comment has been met with widespread outrage, with many social media users hinting that he is out of touch with the realities of his country’s electoral challenges.
X users like Adewale ‘Damilare, Damilare Eluwole, Damian Anazodo, Omeokachie and Juwon Babanla, among a host of others, told the INEC chairman to have some shame with comments such as, “Yakubu, have some shame”, “This man is unrepentant shameless man [sic]”, “Mahmoud Yakubu is shameless!” and “Shameless Mahmoud Yakubu”.
Johbull Igwe, another X user who seems to find the chairman’s comment absurd, wrote: “Is someone kidding me right now? Ghana learnt from the sham INEC orchestrated in Nigeria in the name of elections? No way. Ghana is 101% ahead of Nigeria.”
“Ghana’s election has provided a blueprint for conducting credible polls in Africa. Though the election was not perfect, it was the right step in the right direction. Nigeria was on the path to doing that until INEC, as presently constituted, rewound all the gains that we made in our electioneering journey. I hope we seize this moment to reform the Nigeria electoral system so that we can have an election that we can all be proud of,” @djokaymegamixer wrote.
For Umaru AJ, Ghana would likely experience retrogression should the country emulate Nigeria. He said: “May God not allow Ghana learn anything election related from Nigeria. It will set Ghana 20 years backwards.”
Also lending his voice to the backlash, Sheidu Tijani noted, “INEC commended Ghana’s election after seeing them did what he could not do.”
Eze Aguiyi, on his part, hopes that the INEC chairman will learn from the Ghana presidential election but he seems to “really doubt it”. “Ghana just showed Nigeria how to conduct elections.”
While Olúṣeun Onígbindé’s opinion suggests that the chairman lacks self-awareness and sense of legacy, Morris Monye says the comment can be likened to a “drunkard commending the sober person for not taking alcohol.”
Hakeem Makanju also condemned the chairman, whom he said was given the chance to oversee the most transparent elections in the history of Nigeria, utilising cutting-edge technology at his disposal.
“However, he opted to manipulate the process; he should be ashamed of his actions, as history will ultimately be his judge,” Makanju wrote.
With his comment that seems to urge the chairman to do a self-examination, Omovie wrote: “If you were the one that conducted it, would they have said similar thing concerning you? Buy cheap mirror.”
DECENCY GLOBAL NEWS understands that these criticisms reflect the dissatisfaction of Nigerians with the electoral system in the country.
While the INEC chairman’s remark was intended as a compliment to Ghana’s electoral system, it has only unearthed frustrations over the perceived injustice by the electoral body in the 2023 general election.
