Former Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono-Obla, has dismissed reports claiming that President Bola Tinubu sacked the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu.

Obono-Obla questioned how the directive to proceed on a leave now translates to a termination of appointment.

Speaking via a statement on Thursday, he asserted that reports from different online platforms claiming that the President had removed Yakubu from office were false, misleading, and legally untenable.

“It is both infantile and puerile to witness blazing headlines on certain online platforms claiming that the President has ‘sacked’ the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, by directing him to proceed on terminal leave ahead of the expiration of his tenure on 18 October 2025. Today is 25 September 2025, barely three weeks to the constitutionally mandated end of Professor Yakubu’s second term,” Obono-Obla stated.

“How, then, does asking someone whose tenure is set to lapse by law in three weeks to proceed on leave amount to a sack?

“It beggars belief that media outlets would feast on such patently false narratives, which lack both legal substance and logical coherence,” he said.

Clarifying the constitutional process for removing the INEC boss, Obono-Obla stressed that the President lacks the unilateral power to dismiss the Chairman of the commission.

“The truth of the matter is this: the President has no unilateral power to sack the Chairman of INEC. If the Chairman commits any act contrary to the law that warrants removal, the President is constitutionally required to present an address detailing the allegations against him before the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“For the removal to be effected, the address must be supported by a two-thirds majority of the Senate,” he explained.

Breaking it down further, the former Presidential aide noted, “Mathematically, two-thirds of the 109 members of the Senate amounts to 73 senators voting in favour of the removal.”

Obono-Obla also cited Section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides the framework for the removal of the INEC Chairman and other related officials.