As Nigerians grapple with the current economic hardship in the country, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has come under heavy criticism for declaring Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Interestingly, several claims began to circulate on Facebook that Yakubu had released a statement saying he regretted hurriedly announcing Tinubu as the winner of the election after seeing the hardship Nigerians were facing.
Many Nigerians on the X platform blamed Yakubu for the rising cost of living under President Tinubu ahead of May 29, the first anniversary of his tenure in office.
The post published by a blog , Igbo Times Magazine, reads:
“INEC Chairman expresses regret over prematurely declaring Tinubu as President of Nigeria, acknowledges hardship on Nigerians.”
“The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued a statement expressing regret over the premature declaration of Bola Tinubu as the President of Nigeria.”
The same claim can be seen here, here and here.
Yakubu declared Tinubu as president-elect at about on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Critics claimed he announced the controversial result before dawn because he knew many Nigerians would be unhappy about it.
The major issue was linked to INEC’s failure to use the result viewing portal (IReV) during the presidential poll. Critics also claimed Yakubu sabotaged the system to allow the results to be changed in favour of Tinubu, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate. Reacting, INEC said any system failure was only a technical glitch.
Presidential candidates Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and other opposition parties challenged the result of the election in Nigerian courts until the Supreme Court gave the final verdict, upholding Tinubu’s victory.
Has Yabuku released a statement a year later, saying he regrets hurriedly declaring Tinubu president-elect?
A fact-checking platform, Africa Check, investigated the claim
and noted on Tuesday, March 5, that the claim contradicts Professor Yakubu’s public statements about the 2023 election.
Africa Check wrote:
“Considering Yakubu’s role, any statement he makes relating to the 2023 election would typically be reported by the media. We checked and found no media reports on the supposed admission.
“There is also no such statement on Inec’s website or any of its communication channels.
“The claim that Yakubu has expressed regret over announcing Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election is false.”
Legit.ngreported earlier that an APC chieftain, Salihu Lukman, made a strong revelation about the chances of the APC in the 2027 election.
Lukman disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was at risk of losing re-election in the 2027 poll.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, December 13, he dropped the hint of an impending rebellion among the ranks of the party in no distant time from now.
