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INEC Gets New Acting Chairman, May Agbamuche-Mbu

Published

3 months ago

October 7, 2025

Eric

A National Commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission, May Agbamuche-Mbu, has taken over as the acting Chairman of the Commission.

This followed the formal handover of duties by Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who is proceeding on a terminal leave.

The transition was announced during a stakeholders’ meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners held on Tuesday at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking at the meeting, Yakubu explained that he was stepping down in accordance with Section 306, Subsections 1 and 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“In recognition of the significant challenges ahead, and having had the honour of serving the Commission for the past 10 years, with only a few weeks remaining in my tenure. I have made a decision.

“In the interim, I am handing over to one of the most senior national commissioners by date of appointment. Following consultation with other national commissioners, May Agbamuche-Mbu will serve in an acting capacity pending the appointment of a substantive chairman of the Commission.

“I hope that this will afford the appointing authorities adequate time to appoint a new chairman. It will also enable the new chairman to quickly settle down to the task of conducting elections and electoral activities in Africa’s most demographically and logistically complex environment.

“Since 2015, I have worked with 24 national commissioners and 67 resident electoral commissioners, so also to the staff of the Commission. Those involved in elections or vastly knowledgeable about election management understand the conduct of elections and what it entails. I will forever cherish the support of successive secretaries and staff of the Commission nationwide,” he noted.

Yakubu expressed gratitude to colleagues, stakeholders, civil society groups, development partners, and Nigerians, acknowledging their roles in supporting electoral processes during his tenure.

He also praised members of the National Youth Service Corps, calling them “among the most educated and most patriotic and also most knowledgeable election officials I have worked with.

“Above all, I thank Nigerians for their comments as well as criticisms, which encouraged rather than discouraged us to persevere.”

As part of his farewell, Yakubu presented two publications documenting the Commission’s work during his tenure: Election Management in Nigeria 2015–2025 and Innovations in Electoral Technology 2015–2025.

“All that remains at this point is for me to pray that God will continue to bless our country and our democracy,” Yakubu said as he handed over to Agbamuche-Mbu.

He added, “It is now my pleasure to sign my official handing over notes and present the same to Agbamuche-Mbu. And from that point, I will take my exit.”

Before taking his exit, the outgoing chairman outlined the Commission’s preparations for several upcoming elections, including the Anambra State governorship election next month, the Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory in February 2026, the Ekiti State governorship election in June 2026, and the Osun governorship election in August 2026.

He also confirmed that “INEC has already begun preparations for the 2027 general elections” while awaiting the passage of “a new Electoral Act currently before the National Assembly.”

“Beyond these reviews, the commission needs to further clean up the voters’ register, review the locations of some of the polling units, and allotment of voters to them. The management of party primaries is another major area of activity,” he said.

Yakubu reflected on the logistics and challenges of managing Nigeria’s electoral process, highlighting issues such as insecurity, natural disasters like floods, and the need to update frameworks for internally displaced persons’ voting.

“Over the years, we achieved a lot in responding to challenges and monitoring our introducing many innovations. We have consolidated the biometric register of voters and replaced many of our manual processes with digital platforms and applications,” he said.

He listed innovations introduced under his leadership, including technologies for locating election facilities, virtual training, management of political party finances, and monitoring elections through the Election Monitoring and Support Centre.

“Indeed, we have made tremendous progress, but a lot more needs to be done,” he said.

Before his foray into electoral administration, Yakubu, born in May 1962, served as Executive Secretary of the Education Trust Fund.

Former president Muhammadu Buhari appointed Yakubu as INEC on October 21, 2015, following Senate confirmation, and he assumed office on November 9, 2015, succeeding Professor Attahiru Jega.

In 2020, he was reappointed for a second five-year term, again confirmed by the Senate — first in Nigeria’s democratic history.

The Punch

Featured

Strategy and Sovereignty: Inside Adenuga’s Oil Deal of the Decade

Published

2 days ago

January 11, 2026

Eric

By Michael Abimboye

In global energy circles, the most consequential deals are often not the loudest. They unfold quietly, reshape portfolios, recalibrate value, and only later reveal their full significance.

The recent strategic transaction between Conoil Producing Limited and TotalEnergies belongs firmly in that category. A deal whose implications stretch beyond balance sheets into Nigeria’s long-troubled oil production narrative.

For Mike Adenuga, named The Boss of the Year 2025 by The Boss Newspapers, the agreement is more than a corporate milestone. It is the culmination of a long-term upstream strategy that is now translating into hard value barrels, cash flow, and renewed confidence in indigenous capacity.

At the heart of the transaction is a portfolio rebalancing agreement that sees TotalEnergies deepen its interest in an offshore asset while Conoil consolidates full ownership of a producing block critical to its medium-term growth trajectory. The parties have not publicly disclosed the monetary value, industry analysts place similar offshore and shallow-water asset transfers in the high hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on reserve certification and development timelines. What is indisputable, however, is the deal’s structural clarity: each partner exits with assets aligned to its strategic strengths.

For Conoil, the transaction represents something more profound than asset shuffling. It is the validation of an indigenous oil company’s ability to operate, produce, and partner at scale. That validation was already underway in 2024, when Conoil achieved a landmark breakthrough: the successful production and export of Obodo crude, a new Nigerian crude blend from its onshore acreage.

In a country where new crude streams have become rare, Obodo’s emergence signalled operational maturity. More importantly, it shifted Conoil from being perceived primarily as a downstream and marginal upstream player into a full-spectrum producer with export-grade assets.

The commercial impact was immediate. Obodo crude enhanced Conoil’s revenue profile, strengthened cash flows, and materially improved the company’s asset valuation.

For Mike Adenuga, Obodo represented something else entirely: oil income with scale and durability. Producing crude shifts wealth from theoretical to realised. It is the difference between potential and proof.

That momentum was reinforced by Conoil’s acquisition of a new drilling rig, a move that underscored its intent to control not just resources, but execution. In an industry where rig availability often dictates production timelines, owning modern drilling capacity gives Conoil a strategic advantage lowering costs, reducing dependency, and accelerating development cycles. It also enhances the company’s bargaining power in partnerships such as the one with TotalEnergies.

Taken together, the Obodo crude success, the rig acquisition, and the TotalEnergies transaction, these moves materially expand Conoil’s enterprise value. While private company valuations remain opaque, upstream assets with proven production, infrastructure control, and international partnerships typically command significant multiple expansion. For Adenuga, all of these represents a stabilising and appreciating pillar of wealth.

As The Boss Newspapers honours Mike Adenuga as Boss of the Year 2025, the recognition lands at a moment when his oil ambitions are no longer peripheral to his legacy. They are central. In Obodo crude, in steel rigs, and in carefully negotiated partnerships, Adenuga is shaping a version of Nigerian capitalism that privileges patience, scale, and execution over spectacle.

In the end, the most powerful statement of wealth is not net worth rankings or headlines. It is the ability to convert strategy into assets, assets into production, and production into national relevance. On that score, the Conoil–TotalEnergies deal may well stand as one of the most consequential chapters in Mike Adenuga’s business story and in Nigeria’s evolving oil future.

Featured

Peter Obi, Only Life in ADC, Says Fayose

Published

3 days ago

January 10, 2026

Eric

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, says the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is the only life in the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Fayose made this statement on Friday while fielding questions in an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is technically no more, adding that it is dead.

The former governor equally said that Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, should not be dragged into the woes of the PDP.

He said: “Obi is the only life in ADC; all other people in ADC are semi-existent. If Obi had remained in Labour Party or has gone to Accord Party, he is the only life there. All the other people there, they are not existing. They are old-forces.

“Openly, I supported Tinubu in 2023. I didn’t hide it. Till now I’m still there. I don’t jump. I have said it to you I’m not a member of APC and I will never be.”

DailyPost

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More Troubles for Ahmed Farouk: Dangote Drags Ex-NMDPRA Boss to EFCC over Corruption Claims

Published

4 days ago

January 9, 2026

Eric

The Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, through his legal representative, has filed a formal corruption petition against the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to our correspondent by the Dangote Group media team on Friday.

Recall that Dangote had earlier petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate Ahmed for allegedly spending $5 million on his children’s secondary education in Switzerland. He withdrew the petition a few days ago, even as the ICPC vowed to continue with its investigation.

The statement on Friday said Dangote’s petition to the EFCC followed “The withdrawal of the same petition from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, a strategic decision aimed at accelerating the prosecution process.”

In the petition, signed by Lead Counsel Dr O.J. Onoja, Dangote urged the EFCC to investigate allegations of abuse of office and corrupt enrichment against Ahmed, and to prosecute him if found culpable.

The petition further stated that Dangote would provide evidence to substantiate claims of financial misconduct and impunity.

“We make bold to state that the commission is strategically positioned, along with sister agencies, to prosecute financial crimes and corruption-related offences, and upon establishing a prima facie case, the courts do not hesitate to punish offenders. See Lawan v. F.R.N (2024) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1953) 501 and Shema v. F.R.N. (2018) 9 NWLR (Pt.1624) 337,” the petition read.

Onoja further urged the commission, under the leadership of Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede, “To investigate the complaint of abuse of office and corruption against Engr. Farouk Ahmed and to accordingly prosecute him if found wanting.”