Onaiyekan tears into INEC Chair Yakubu for lying about 2023 election
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has again been slammed, this time by Abuja Bishop Emeritus John Cardinal Onaiyekan for the shoddy way he conducted the 2023 vote, which ripple effects have yet to clear up.
Onaiyekan also took a swipe at those comfortable with public officials forging certificates, an allegation now dogging Bola Tinubu up to the presidency.
He accused Yakubu of misleading Nigerians and not being honest in conducting the ballot.
Onaiyekan spoke in Port Harcourt at the weekend during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Jesuit Memorial College, where he insisted actions have consequences.
Said he: “When I heard Professor Mahmood on television, even yesterday, telling us that everything went perfectly well [during the 2023 election], I shed tears. He knows he was not telling the truth.
“We should refuse to agree that this is a country where certificates are forged and it is okay. We should refuse to accept a situation where elections are rigged and you are told to go to court. These things have consequences.”
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Only truth will make Nigeria free
“Jesus says you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. Accept that they have a very heavy trust deficit. Nothing wrong with admitting [they] did not do so well. If we don’t tell the truth, we will not move forward,” Onaiyekan added, per Channels Television.
“I am a religious person and I keep praying to God to forgive us and to show us the truth because if we tell the truth, things will move fast. Nigerians are wonderful and I still hope that things will move fast.”
INEC declared Tinubu winner of the presidential election held on February 25 but the case is now at the Supreme Court, being challenged by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
“Whatever the Judges may decide, whatever courts may say, at the end of the day, the truth will make us free,” Onaiyekan stressed.
