2023 Elections: INEC speaks on mapped-out plans ahead of polls, alleged call for chairman's sack

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has revealed that it is under pressure to deliver free, fair and credible elections to Nigerians in 2023.

Festus Okoye, the commissioner for information and voter education for INEC, while speaking on Channels Television's Politics Today, made the disclosure.

Okoye noted that the commission on its own is prepared to deliver a credible election that will in turn meet all the international standards and expectations of all.

His words: “Yes, we are under pressure from the Nigerian people to deliver a credible, fair and transparent election in 2023, and that’s the only pressure I know about.”

Okoye, however, dismissed a recent call for the sack of the commission's chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, while stating clearly the rigorous process for such a move.

He said: "The position of the INEC chairman is a very serious position and it is a constitutionally protected position. The process for the appointment of the INEC chairman is very rigorous process."

"The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes nominations and then goes to the council of state.

“Thereafter he goes to the National Assembly for possible confirmation. Now the process and the procedure, the mechanism for the removal of the INEC chairman is also a very rigorous process. First, there must be an allegation and that allegation must conform to the provision of the constitution."

He added that any allegations against the commission's chairman must first be taken to the president.

According to Okoye, the president after receiving such a petition approaches the National Assembly asking the Senate in its instance to remove the electoral management body.