December 15, (THEWILL) – As one of the observers who monitored the December 7, 2024 Ghana polls, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, felt moved to commend the smooth conduct of the election but ended up drawing the ire of his countrymen back home for saying that Ghana’s decision to decentralise its electoral system was inspired by Nigeria’s success in managing constituency election results.
Unlike previous presidential and parliamentary elections in the West African country, the 2024 presidential election adopted a decentralised system, allowing constituency-level officers to announce parliamentary results locally, while only presidential results were sent to the Accra headquarters of the Electoral Commission for announcement.
In the election in which former President John Mahama defeated Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and thereby ended the two terms in power for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo, INEC Chairman, Yakubu, who monitored the election in a short video posted last Sunday, stated that Ghana’s current approach to managing results at the constituency level was inspired by Nigeria, adding that the process had improved the efficiency of the electoral process.
He said, “The second thing for me is the lesson that Ghana also learned from Nigeria in the area of managing constituency election results. Until the last election in Ghana, all results came to the Electoral Commission’s headquarters in Accra, both parliamentary and presidential.
“Although Ghana is not a federal system, they learned from Nigeria, where you have returning officers who announce results for parliamentary elections in various constituencies around the country. Only the presidential election results come to Accra.
“In Nigeria, this is what we have done. They borrowed a leaf from us and this is the second time they are implementing it. That is why, as you can see, the declaration of the presidential election result was a lot faster than it used to be in the past,” Yakubu said.
In addition, Yakubu spoke glowingly about the political stability inherent in Ghana’s democracy, pointing at the consistency of its political party structures and voter loyalty.
“Rarely in Ghana do you see people moving from one party to another with every general election. So, that is important. It provides stability. It also provides their supporters with stability. So, there are people who have supported political parties for many years. Whether the party is in power or in opposition, they stick to the political party.”
Quite expectedly, the observation of Yakubu, whose controversial management of general and off-cycle elections in the country has always been a subject of intense debate, attracted criticisms across political divides and social strata.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said the statement from the INEC boss was self-serving and hypocritical.
According to Chief Eze, Prof. Yakubu’s “INEC has nothing to offer to the outside world except asking aggrieved candidates and political parties to go to court to ventilate their grievances.”
He lamented that INEC under Yakubu’s watch has turned itself into an extension of the ruling government, which has continued to deploy state forces and resources to push opposition parties and dissenting voices into redundancy, which is not in tandem with a genuine democratic environment that supports plural political party practice.
“For such a questionable character who is at the forefront of the project to thwart the will of the majority of Nigerians at the polls to turn around to commend Ghana’s electoral process is the height of crass hypocrisy, sheer idiocy and totally misguided,” he said, adding that “Nigeria is in the present sad situation because of the way Yakubu chose to conduct the 2023 general election and other off-cycle elections that followed, causing Nigerians to lose hope in the entire electoral process.”
“Therefore, Yakubu’s commendation is an embarrassment to Nigerians before the international community, because he is at the helm of affairs of one of the most corrupt institutions in Nigeria.”
A human rights lawyer and the counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra, Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said he had been in disbelief since he heard Yakubu’s statements, saying,
“I watched in utter disbelief as Nigeria’s own Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, lavished praise on his Ghanaian counterpart for conducting a credible election that saw an opposition leader emerge victorious as President-elect. For context, this is the same Prof. Yakubu, who presided over the widely criticised 2023 Nigerian presidential election, marred by massive irregularities and allegations of rigging in favour of the ruling party.
“In Ghana, the people’s votes were respected and counted, a stark contrast to the Nigerian experience. Nigerians are still waiting for Prof. Yakubu to explain the so-called ‘glitch’ in INEC’s server that enabled the blatant subversion of the people’s will.
“This manipulated process robbed millions of their rightful mandate and undermined the essence of democracy.
“The consequences of that flawed election are evident in Nigeria’s current dire state. Tragically, those whose mandates were stolen bear the brunt of this crisis, left impoverished and disillusioned.
“As Ghana shines as a beacon of democratic integrity, Nigerians are left with a painful reminder of how far we have fallen. The road to redemption will be long, but the lesson is clear: no nation can thrive when the will of its people is silenced.”
For Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Yakubu’s comments are unfortunate.
While projecting about the uncertainties ahead of the 2027 general election last Wednesday, George, took a shot at Yakubu; “I am so ashamed of INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu. He was good before, but now his performance is a bad joke.”
Obiora Ifo, spokesperson of the Labour Party said that the commission under Yakubu is a sad commentary on how not to conduct a free, fair and violent -free polls in Nigeria.
“It is a shame that the INEC Chairman should be talking when, in this case, he should be the one to learn from Ghana. He was the architect of exactly what Nigerians are suffering today.”
“He owes Nigerians an apology. We didn’t hear of electoral violence, snatching of boxes or any glitches whatsoever (in Ghana). The people spoke through their votes. Their votes counted and Ghanaians are happy with it.”
Reactions on social media have also been critical of Yakubu. A sample shows the same pattern of criticisms.
Deji Adeyanju simply said; “INEC would have rigged the Ghana elections; remains Nigeria’s biggest hurdle to credible polls.
Johbull Igwe, 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 101per cent ahead of Nigeria.”
“Ghana’s election has provided a blueprint for conducting credible polls in Africa. Alhough 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 to learn anything election related from Nigeria. It will set Ghana back 20 years backwards.”
X users, Adewale ‘Damilare, said; “Yakubu, have some shame.”
