Why I Kicked Against Buhari Reappointing INEC Chairman – Amaechi

A former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has revealed that he rejected the reappointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

Speaking in an interview on Arise TV, Amaechi stated that the embattled INEC chairman lacked the capacity to deliver a credible presidential, governorship, and legislative election.

According to the former Rivers State governor, the police also compromised the process by taking sides with a party in the Rivers governorship election.

Amaechi claimed that as a member of the cabinet of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, he opposed Yakubu’s reappointment because of what he dubbed “lack of capacity”, stressing that he has been vindicated by what has been seen with the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

The former governor alleged that the Governor Nyesom Wike-led Rivers State government has been paying the salaries of staff of INEC in the state for over a year and that even when the matter was raised before the commission it was ignored.

He stressed that political parties in the election in Rivers State were contesting against the INEC and Police and not just the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Amaechi wondered why the police would consent to arrest candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a day before the election without any evidence of wrongdoing.

The former Transport Minister who said he had long been prevailed by associates and lawyers to maintain a dignified silence, said he was forced to come out to question why a “boy will stay somewhere, write names and give the police and police will swing to action” arresting candidates and agents of the APC.

On what he did regarding the police he allegedly accused of compromising the process, Amaechi said: “It is only President Buhari that can call the IGP to order, and say what am I hearing in Rivers, Lagos all over the country.”