Countdown to 2027: Tinubu Names New INEC Boss This Week After Yakubu Exit

By: Abudu Olalekan

Thursday is the day. That’s when President Tinubu reveals who’ll run Nigeria’s elections.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu packed his bags Tuesday. Ten years at INEC’s helm – done. He handed the keys to May Agbamuche-Mbu, a no-nonsense lawyer who’ll keep the seat warm until the big announcement. The President even threw in a national honor for Yakubu. Commander of the Order of the Niger. Not bad for a farewell gift.

Here’s the thing: the Council of State meeting Thursday isn’t just another government gathering. Former presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan will be there. State governors too. They’ll all huddle around Tinubu as he presents his shortlist. But let’s be real – its his call to make.

Yakubu’s exit letter, dated October 3rd, was gracious. Thanked the President. Called it a privilege. The usual diplomatic stuff. But behind the pleasantries lies a decade of electoral drama that shaped Nigeria’s democracy.

Remember BVAS? That fingerprint scanner thing that was supposed to fix voter fraud? Yakubu brought that in. Started testing it in Anambra back in 2021. By the 2023 elections, every polling unit had one. The technology worked. Sometimes. When it didn’t, chaos followed.

He also gave us IReV – that portal where you could check results online. Revolutionary idea. Except when servers crashed during the presidential election. Opposition parties screamed bloody murder. Technical glitches, INEC said. Conspiracy, others whispered.

The numbers tell Yakubu’s story better than words. Two general elections. Countless governorship polls. Expanded voter registration from periodic rushes to a continuous process. Increased polling units so rural folks didn’t have to trek miles to vote. He even made special arrangements for disabled voters and the elderly.

But 2023 nearly broke him. And INEC.

Server failures. Late arrival of materials. Results that took forever to upload. Politicians on both sides accused him of bias. The public lost faith. Voter apathy hit new highs – or lows, depending on how you see it. Trust in the electoral process? Let’s just say it needs serious repair work.

Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s spokesman, praised Yakubu for conducting “free and fair” elections. Opposition parties would disagree. Violently.

Now everyone’s arguing about who should pick the next chairman. Senior lawyer Ifedayo Adedipe thinks we’re missing the point. “Was it not Jonathan that appointed Professor Jega? Didn’t Jonathan lose the election?” he asks. Fair point. The man who appointed the referee lost the game. Democracy worked.

Adedipe’s got another uncomfortable truth: “Does the chairman of INEC come to polling units? No.” He’s right. On election day, its not about who sits in Abuja. Its about what happens in thousands of polling stations across Nigeria. The vote buying. The intimidation. The “see and buy” culture where politicians literally purchase votes in broad daylight.

Wale Balogun, another senior advocate, worries the system’s too weak to check presidential power. “The checks and balances that the system has, as it is today, is sufficient to produce a credible person,” he says. Then adds the kicker: “but the system as it is now is also weak.”

May Agbamuche-Mbu brings serious credentials to her temporary role. Thirty years in law. Trained in London. Expert in dispute resolution. She’s edited legal columns, advised government committees, managed her own law firm. Delta State born, Kano raised. She knows Nigeria.

The House of Representatives isn’t sitting idle either. Speaker Tajudeen Abbas promises electoral reforms before 2027. Single-day voting to cut costs. Clearer dispute timelines. An Electoral Offences Commission to prosecute violators. Big promises. Whether they’ll materialize is another story.

State police debates are heating up too. The current centralized system isn’t working – everyone knows that. But devolving security to states? That’s a political minefield nobody wants to navigate. Yet.

Yakubu leaves behind two hefty publications documenting his tenure. “Election Management in Nigeria 2015-2025” and “Innovations in Electoral Technology 2015-2025.” His legacy, bound in paper.

The Anambra governorship election looms next month. Then FCT councils in February 2026. Ekiti and Osun governorship races follow. The 2027 general elections are already being planned. Whoever takes over from Agbamuche-Mbu inherits this electoral calendar. And all its headaches.

Thursday can’t come soon enough.