Certificate Saga: A human rights advocate and attorney blasted INEC for failing to properly investigate data, certifications

Chukwudi Ezeobika, a human rights advocate and attorney, has blasted the Independent National Electoral Commission for failing to take reasonable steps to properly investigate the data and certifications that candidates for public office have given to it.

The activist said that the election umpire’s conduct or inactivity has made the nation a laughingstock in the eyes of the world, and that as a result, the validity of the nation’s president’s certificate would be called into question.

These were included in a written statement that the attorney provided to reporters in Lokoja on Monday.

Speaking in light of the scandal surrounding the Chicago State University certificate, he said that the electoral umpire’s failure to take the appropriate action had embarrassed the entire nation.

“This raises serious questions on the integrity, capacity, and true independence of the Commission as currently constituted,” he stated, making it a matter to be concerned about.

He added that INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu Mahmood ought to have done better to oversee a free, fair, and credible election given the enormous budgets (billions of Nigerian naira) he got from the foreign contributors as well as the Nigerian government.