When the Electoral Umpire Becomes the Ambassador -
Let me ask you a very simple question.
Imagine you are playing football.
You have two teams on the field.
The referee is supposed to be neutral.
He is supposed to enforce the rules.
He is supposed to make sure nobody cheats.
Now imagine that after the match, one team wins.
The losing team says:
"Referee, you didn't play this game fairly."
The referee's decisions become the subject of national controversy.
Millions of people begin questioning the officiating.
And then, after everything is over...
the winning team appoints the referee to represent the country abroad.
How would you feel?
That is the question I want us to think about today.
Because in Nigeria, something remarkably similar has happened.
MAHMOOD YAKUBU
For ten years, Professor Mahmood Yakubu was the chairman of Nigeria's electoral commission, INEC.
He was chairman when Nigerians went to the polls in 2023.
He was the man standing at the head of the institution responsible for conducting the presidential election.
And that election became one of the most fiercely disputed elections in Nigeria's recent history.
Now, let us be very careful here.
I am not going to tell you that a court convicted Mahmood Yakubu of rigging the election.
It did not.
I am not going to tell you that a court sentenced him to prison.
It did not.
In fact, Nigeria's Supreme Court ultimately upheld Bola Tinubu's election after dismissing the challenges brought by Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar.
Those are facts.
But there are other facts that Nigerians must not forget.
And those facts are extremely uncomfortable.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PROMISE OF BVAS?
Before the 2023 election, Nigerians were excited about technology.
We heard about BVAS.
We heard about IReV.
We heard that technology would make our elections more transparent.
The idea was simple:
You vote.
Your vote is accredited.
The result is recorded.
The result sheet is uploaded.
Everybody can see what happened.
Beautiful.
At least, that was the expectation.
But election day came...
And things did not go exactly as Nigerians had been led to expect.
The European Union Election Observation Mission documented serious operational and transparency problems.
It specifically reported that the uploading of results through BVAS did not work as expected and that presidential results began appearing on IReV very late.
Its final report said the lack of transparency in implementing election technology and the failure to promptly upload presidential results to IReV contributed to decreased public trust in the credibility of the elections.
Think about that.
Decreased public trust.
Not because Nigerians suddenly hated democracy.
Not because Nigerians suddenly became unreasonable.
But because the very system that was supposed to give people confidence developed serious problems at the most critical moment.
AND THIS IS WHERE THE STORY BECOMES PERSONAL
Because elections are not just numbers.
Behind every number is a human being.
That elderly woman who woke up before sunrise to vote.
That young man who stood under the scorching Nigerian sun.
That pregnant woman who waited in a queue.
That first-time voter who believed:
"This time, my vote will count."
People spent money to travel home.
People postponed businesses.
People stood in queues.
People endured heat.
Some faced intimidation.
Some faced violence.
Some couldn't even vote.
And after all that sacrifice, people wanted one simple thing:
TRANSPARENCY.
They wanted to know that their vote was counted.
They wanted to know that the result announced was the result produced by the people.
That is the emotional heart of this story.
THEN INEC ANNOUNCED THE RESULT
INEC declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner of the presidential election.
Peter Obi came third in the official tally, while Atiku Abubakar came second.
But Obi and Atiku challenged the outcome.
Their legal challenges went all the way to the Supreme Court.
And on 26 October 2023, the Supreme Court upheld Tinubu's victory.
So, legally speaking, the election result stood.
But here is something Nigerians must understand:
A court judgment settling an election dispute is not the same thing as saying that every aspect of the election administration was perfect.
The EU's final report continued to identify systemic weaknesses and recommended reforms in transparency, accountability and the publication of results.
That distinction matters.
Because we can acknowledge the Supreme Court's judgment while still asking legitimate questions about the conduct of the electoral process.
THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED
Fast-forward to 2025.
Mahmood Yakubu leaves INEC after about ten years as chairman.
And what happens?
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confers the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger — CON — on him.
The Presidency described the honour as recognition of his service to Nigeria and his role in sustaining democracy.
Then came another development.
President Tinubu nominated Mahmood Yakubu as a non-career ambassador.
The Senate confirmed him.
And on 6 March 2026, President Tinubu approved his posting as Nigeria's ambassador to Qatar.
Read that again.
Ambassador Mahmood Yakubu.
The former chairman of the institution that conducted the 2023 presidential election is now representing Nigeria diplomatically.
And this is where many Nigerians began asking:
"Wait a minute... how did we get here?"
THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER HE WAS CONVICTED
Let me repeat this because it is important.
There is no court judgment establishing that Mahmood Yakubu personally rigged the 2023 presidential election for Bola Tinubu.
There is no criminal conviction sentencing him to prison for electoral fraud.
So if somebody says:
"Mahmood Yakubu has been legally proven to have rigged the election,"
that statement goes further than the established legal record.
But Nigerians are allowed to ask another question.
A very legitimate question.
Was the performance of the electoral system in 2023 good enough to justify rewarding its former chairman with a major diplomatic appointment?
That is a completely different question.
And it deserves an honest answer.
BECAUSE THIS IS BIGGER THAN YAKUBU
My brothers and sisters...
This is not really about whether Mahmood Yakubu is a good man or a bad man.
I don't know him personally.
You probably don't know him personally either.
This is about institutions.
What happens when the referee becomes part of the reward system?
What message does that send to the next referee?
What message does it send to the next INEC chairman?
What message does it send to the Nigerian voter?
Imagine being a young Nigerian watching all of this.
You are told:
"Go and vote."
You vote.
Then you watch an election surrounded by controversy.
You watch the arguments.
You watch the court cases.
And years later, you see the former electoral chairman receiving a national honour and becoming an ambassador.
What conclusion will that young Nigerian draw about the relationship between electoral accountability and political power?
That is the question.
AND THERE IS ANOTHER PROBLEM
INEC itself is supposed to be independent.
The whole point of having an electoral commission is that the umpire should not belong to the contestants.
The EU Election Observation Mission specifically recommended a more publicly accountable process for selecting INEC members and stronger mechanisms for electoral accountability.
Why?
Because democracy is not just about conducting elections.
It is about creating confidence that the referee is independent.
And confidence is fragile.
Once you lose it, rebuilding it can take years.
SO, WHAT SHOULD NIGERIANS BE ASKING?
Not:
"Who do you support?"
Not:
"Are you APC?"
Not:
"Are you NDC?"
Not:
"Are you ADC?"
Not:
"Are you PDP?"
Not:
"Are you Labour?"
The bigger questions are:
Who holds electoral officials accountable?
Should former electoral commissioners be allowed to receive political appointments from the government whose election they supervised?
Should there be a mandatory cooling-off period?
Should an independent body review the performance of an electoral commission after every presidential election?
Should INEC's technology and result-management systems be independently audited?
Should election results be published in a way that allows citizens and political parties to independently verify them immediately?
And perhaps the most important question:
Who protects the voter's trust?
BECAUSE YOUR VOTE IS NOT A FAVOUR
Let us stop thinking about elections as something politicians give us.
No.
Your vote is your constitutional right.
Your vote is your voice.
Your vote is your power.
When you wake up at 4 a.m. to vote, you are not doing the politician a favour.
You are exercising your citizenship.
When you stand in the sun for six hours, you are not begging anybody.
You are exercising your right.
And when an electoral commission announces a result, Nigerians deserve to know that the result can withstand scrutiny.
Not because the losing candidate says so.
Not because the winning candidate says so.
But because the evidence says so.
THE 2023 QUESTION WILL NOT DISAPPEAR
Mahmood Yakubu is now an ambassador.
That is a fact.
Tinubu's election was upheld by Nigeria's highest court.
That is also a fact.
The EU observer mission documented serious transparency and operational shortcomings in the 2023 elections.
That is another fact.
All three facts can exist at the same time.
And Nigerians have every democratic right to debate what they mean.
But let us not allow the debate to become tribal.
Let us not make it about North versus South.
Christian versus Muslim.
Yoruba versus Igbo.
APC versus NDC.
PDP versus Labour.
AA versus ADC.
No.
This is about something much more fundamental.
The Nigerian voter.
THE FINAL QUESTION
So when you hear the name Mahmood Yakubu...
Don't just think about a professor.
Don't just think about a former INEC chairman.
Don't just think about an ambassador to Qatar.
Think about the institution he once led.
Think about the 2023 election.
Think about BVAS.
Think about IReV.
Think about the delayed uploads.
Think about the controversies.
Think about the court cases.
Think about the Supreme Court judgment.
And then ask yourself:
What should accountability look like in a democracy?
Because democracy cannot survive on elections alone.
It survives on trust.
And when Nigerians lose trust in the people counting their votes, the damage goes far beyond one election.
It damages the belief that the ordinary Nigerian can actually change his country through the ballot box.
And that...
is a much bigger problem than Mahmood Yakubu.
- Lugard Ekhator
Benin City
