INEC denies appointing Tinubu’s stooge as head of ICT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has denied appointing one Femi Odubiyi who is said to be a former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State and also an ally of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Recall that former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, had in a statement told the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, to remove Femi Odubiyi as the commission’s ICT head following the irregularities that marred the presidential election.

George, while making the call for the sack of Femi from his duty post, said the first thing Yakubu must do was to explain to Nigerians how Odubiyi, a former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State, found his way there to head “a critical department before, during and after elections.”

Meanwhile, INEC in a statement made by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye which a copy was made available to News Band Newspaper described the claim as untrue.

He said Femi Odubiyi does not even exist within the commission’s ICT Department at the INEC headquarters in Abuja or any State office of the electoral umpire.

While noting that the ICT staff of INEC are career officers with no record of holding any political appointment, he urged the general public to disregard the story.

Okoye said, “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a widely publicised report attributed to a well known Lagos politician Chief Olabode George that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appointed one Femi Odubiyi, a former Commissioner in Lagos State and an associate of a prominent politician, as its Head of ICT. Nothing can be further from the truth.

“To set the record straight, the name “Femi Odubiyi” does not even exist within our ICT Department at the INEC headquarters in Abuja or any State office of the Commission.

“Our ICT staff are career officers of the Commission. None has held any political appointment in any State of the Federation.

“The public is urged to disregard the story. Its promoter should have been circumspect so as not to be seen as a purveyor of fake news.”