Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
Described as a Professor of Political History and International Studies with expertise in guerrilla warfare, terrorism and counter-terrorism, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, President Muhammadu Buhari’s choice for the headship of the Independent National Electoral Commission, would have earned the support of Nigerians were he appointed a minister of defence, in the light of Boko Haram insurgency.
But he is still a square peg in a square hole, as elections in Nigeria is warfare.
In spite of Nigeria’s uninterrupted 16 year-practice of democracy, elections in Nigeria still remains a warlike exercise with politicians regularly arming thugs with guns, cutlasses and cudgels to get advantage over their opponents.
Perhaps, this is one of the reasons President Buhari went for him and the National Council of State also rubber-stamped his nomination.
With the approval of his appointment by the Council of State, Professor Yakubu who had served as the head of an intervention agency established to help fund tertiary education in Nigeria, the Tertiary Education Fund, TETFUND would be stepping into the big shoes left behind by another distinguished academic at the electoral commission, Professor Attahiru Jega.
On the surface, Professor Yakubu would be in a familiar environment when he resumed at the expansive, Zambezi Street, Maitaima Abuja Headquarters of INEC: his former office when he served as TETFUND Executive Secretary from 2007 t0 2012 is just some metres away on the same street. And though he may not have a history of active participation in civil society and activism like his predecessor who is still receiving accolades over the manner he superintended over the 2015 elections, the new INEC Chairman is also a brilliant academic with specialisation in roughly the same fields like Jega.
Yakubu who was born in Bauchi in 1962 graduated from the University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University) with a First Class Honours Degree in History, the first and only person to date from Northern Nigeria to achieve the feat and later gained admission to the prestigious University of Oxford where he bagged a Doctor of Philosophy Degree with specialisation in Nigerian History at the age of 29 in 1991.
Yakubu last public appointment was as a delegate and an Assistant Secretary, Finance and Administration of the 2014 National Conference, organized by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Until his appointment, Yakubu was on secondment to the Federal Ministry of Education. Apart from his sterling academic achievements, Yakubu who used to teach War and Society in Pre-Colonial Africa at the Nigerian Defence Academy is also credited with some important strides at TETFUND, according to investigations by this magazine.
As the first academic to head the agency saddled with the task of improvements of teaching and research in Nigeria through upgrading of physical infrastructure and the development of human capacity, the new INEC Chairman was credited with the establishment of a National Book Development Fund that supports 102 journals of professional associations, a National Research Fund domiciled in TETFund and massive sponsorships of lecturers for postgraduate studies in local and foreign universities.
“Before then, what used to happen in terms of sponsorship of academic staff for postgraduate studies was that TETFUND will just give a one-off allocation of N1.75m to each university,” a source said. Working with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, he was also credited with raising revenue accrual to the TETFUND.
A total of N284.9 billion was collected between 2008 and 2010 as against N178.0billion for the period 1994-2007 in Education Tax, the principal source of funding for the intervention agency.
The increased funding led to the introduction of High Impact Interventions for tertiary institutions in which between N1 and N3 billion was awarded as a one off fund for upgrade of facilities in the beneficiary institutions. About 50 tertiary institutions were said to have benefitted from the intervention under his leadership. Sources at the intervention agency described Yakubu as disciplined and competent. Like Jega, sources said the Acting INEC Chairman also has history of working with civil society organizations.
Professor Yakubu was also the Vice President of National Economic Development Empowerment Development Strategy of Nigerians Universities, set up by the Jonathan administration in 2013 to address the problems of demands for increased funding for the universities in Nigeria. Before his appointment as the boss of TETFUND, the new INEC boss has served as a member of Oby Ezekwesili Educational Transformation Team which made far reaching recommendations for the turnaround of the fortunes of education in Nigeria.
However, sources also described the former TEFUND boss as a man with a very deep pocket and a major investor in an Abuja based newspaper. This magazine cannot confirm the veracity of this claim yet. Also, there were allegations of diversion of the sum of over N800 million meant for procurement of chairs for some educational institutions during his tenure, an allegation he has denied.
Though he was appointed as the Chairman of INEC by the APC government, some chieftains of APC who spoke to this magazine believe that Yakubu has sympathies for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP given the various positions he has held in the past. “If he is not a PDP member, do you think the former President Jonathan would have appointed him to the sensitive position of secretary of finance of National Conference.
Yakubu’s appointment is in acting capacity and he will need the confirmation of the National Assembly to become the substantial chairman of INEC. Given recent events in the country, it will not be out of place to expect to see different allegations against him coming into the public domain ahead of the confirmation hearing in the next few days.
This aside, Yakubu’s first major assignment will be to supervise the gubernatorial elections of Kogi and Bayelsa State scheduled for November and December respectively. The appointment of a new chairman as well as five zonal commissioners itself at the emergency meeting of Council of State was to give constitutional teeth to those elections.
Lawyers had argued that with retirement of most of its commissioners and lack of a substantive chairman after the exit of Professor Jega in June, the Commission lacked quorum to function and any of its action, including the impending gubernatorial polls may be nullified by the courts on this basis.
“I’m sure it is the new chairman that will now supervise and conduct the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa,” Aminu Tambuwal, the Governor of Sokoto State told journalists after the meeting of the Council of State.
No doubt, Yakubu’s handling of the two polls will determine if he will take the Commission higher in terms of the degree of efficiency and integrity of elections conducted under Jega or dropped the ball.
“I will urge the new chairman to be passionate about elections and democracy in Nigeria and to ensure that he is not biased in anyway. He should ensure that everybody has confidence in him, just like his predecessor, and ensure that our democracy moves in the right direction and take it to higher levels,” said Yunusa Tanko, the National Publicity Secretary of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee.