There were strong indications on Saturday that President Goodluck Jonathan might have appointed Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, (SAN), as the new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The former INEC chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, was on April 28, directed by the president to proceed on terminal leave.
His tenure statutorily ends early in June.
The news of his appointment has spread to members of the Federal Executive Council, with two of them confirming it at 4.15pm on Saturday.
A cabinet member said, ”That is what we have heard
but it is not yet official.”
Agbakoba‘s rumoured appointment came barely four days after Jonathan appointed the Kaduna State governor, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, as vice-president designate.
Shortly after Iwu was removed, media reports had touted Agbakoba, Gen. Ishola Williams (retd), Col. Abubakar Umar (retd) and Prof. Attahiru Jega as possible successors.
But when contacted on the telephone, Agbakoba said he was not yet aware of the appointment.
He said, ”I have not been told of such appointment by anybody. The issue of VP has been occupying their minds; and since it has been sorted out, I believe that other pending issues will soon be attended to.”
Besides INEC chairmanship, four vacant positions for commissioners exist at INEC.
Currently, only the Acting Chairman, Mr. Solomon Soyebi (South-West), and Mr. Philip Umeadi (South-East), serve as commissioners.
The need for credible elections in 2011 had early this year triggered national protests led by the Save Nigeria Group, demanding Iwu‘s removal and the appointment of somebody who enjoys public confidence as his successor.
Agbakoba, a denizen of human rights and pro-democracy community in the country, is an erstwhile President of the Civil Liberties Organisation.
Born on 29 May 1953, he hails from Onitsha, Anambra State.
Besides, he was President of Nigerian Bar Association between 2006 and 2008, just as he is a Senior Partner in a Maritime law firm based in Lagos.
Son of a late Judge, he studied law at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Agbakoba was admitted to the bar in 1978 and served as a research fellow in the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs‘ Law and Intelligence Department.
But he left the NIIA after a year and formed his own law firm, Olisa Agbakoba and Associates, which specializes in commercial and maritime law.
He was also the founder of United Action for Democracy and the Zambian pan African human rights organization AfroNet.
He was one of the defenders of the late civil rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by the late Gen. Sani Abacha dictatorship.
In 1993, he was honoured with the Human Rights Award of the German Association of Judges. In 1996 he was given the Aachen Peace Award and was also honoured by the American Bar Association.
Source: Sunday Punch
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