INEC Chairman, Mahmood reacts to threat to life amidst protests against elections results

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has reacted to the alleged threats to his life.

Mahmood denied the alleged threats to the life of the INEC boss.

This came amidst controversy and protests against the outcome of February 25, 2023 elections conducted by the electoral commission.

Some online media organizations (not The Informant247) reported that the INEC boss cried out over alleged threats to his life.

While reacting to the claim, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC boss, Rotimi Oyekanmi, denied the claims.

He tweeted: “At no time did the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu say that his life was at risk. The public should disregard the fake narrative being circulated by mischief makers,”

We’re not working for any candidate: INEC tells Atiku-led protesters

The Informant247 earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, March 6, 2023 said it has no connection with any political party or any candidate.

This was revealed by the national commissioner for information of the electoral commission, Festus Okoye, while addressing the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar and members of the party who staged protest at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja.

The demonstrators moved to the office of the electoral commission to protest the outcome of the February 25, 2023 election which made presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu the winner.

While addressing the protesters, the national commissioner for information of the electoral body, Okoye reaffirmed that INEC will “redress” the “grievances” of the main opposition party regarding the presidential election result.

He said the protest letter presented by the party will be forwarded to the national chairman of the electoral commission, Mahmood Yakubu.

“I have received this particular protest letter on behalf of the chairman of INEC and I promise you that this letter will be transmitted to him,” he said.

“If there are remedial issues to be dealt with, we are going to deal with those remedial issues.

“But I want to assure you that this commission is a listening commission. This commission is a public trust and this commission belongs to the Nigerian people.

“This commission does not have any allegiance to any political party. We don’t have allegiance to any political party. We don’t have any allegiance to any candidate. Our allegiance is to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I want to thank all of you for the peaceful way this protest has been conducted.

“The commission belongs to the Nigerian people and whatever grievances there are, we will look into all those grievances. If there are grievances that can be redressed, we will redress those grievances but I want to plead that all of us should continue to be peaceful and all of us should continue to respect the integrity of the commission and also the integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I am going to go and hand over the protest letter to the chairman of the commission and I want to assure you that the commission will meet over this letter, look into it and address some of the issues.”

The Informant247 recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election.

According to INEC, Tinubu came victorious with 8.8 million votes.

The presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar came second with 6.9 million votes.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, had 6.1 million votes.

Atiku and Obi who were not comfortable with the outcome of the February 25 presidential election have filed petitions at the election tribunal to challenge the emergence of Tinubu as the Nigerian leader.

The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Monday, March 6, 2023 led stakeholders of his party on a protest to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja, the country’s capital over the February 25, 2023 presidential election.