Professor Mahmood Yakubu has handed over his duties as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He passed on the leadership mantle to an INEC National Commissioner, Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Muazu (rtd) at an event held at the headquarters of the electoral umpire in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Ahmed will act in that capacity pending when the Senate confirms the reappointment of Professor Yakubu as INEC chairman by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In his remarks, Professor Yakubu informed those present at the event that the current INEC was inaugurated in three batches, in which he was sworn-in along with five national commissioners on November 9, 2015.
He noted that six more national commissioners were inaugurated on December 7, 2016, and another one on July 21, 2018.
The outgoing INEC chief described the commission as a constitutional body whose members were appointed for five years, and which may be renewed for a second and final term.