Professor Attahiru Jega has finally bowed out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) on Tuesday after five years of meritorious service to the nation.
Jega, who received accolades from Nigerians home and abroad as well as the international communities for his dignified contributions to the success of the 2015 general election, hands over to Ambassador (Dr.) Ahmed Wali.
Before his appointment as National Commissioners of the (INEC), Wali was a Visiting Reader (Associate Professor) to the Department of Political Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and Chief Executive Officer, Development Strategies International (DSI).
Ambassador Wali is a member of various committees of INEC and the Chairman of the Tenders Board.
Wali, a Muslim, Fulani, hails from Sanyima town in Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State, in the North-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
Jega, who is leaving INEC with six National Commissioners whose tenure has equally expired, fought the greatest battle of his life, to preserve his good name, in conducting the 2015 general elections.
When former President Goodluck Jonathan nominated Jega as the Chairman of INEC in June, 2010, it was borne out of the conviction that he was found worthy of a position that had a history of lacking in men that live up to the creed such an office demands— unimpeachable integrity and being a consistent stickler for truth.
It would be recalled that general elections were conducted under Jega’s supervision – 2011, 2015- each with improvement as the 2015 general elections were accepted by all and sundry as the freest and fairest ever in the country’s electoral history.
He is a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and was an opponent of the Babangida military government in the early 1990s. Politically leaning towards the left, as ASUU President he was closely associated with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and continued that connection throughout his career.
On April 29, 2010 he was guest lecturer for the NLC May Day celebration where he presented a paper on ’50 Years of Nationhood: Challenges of Good Democratic Governance, Credible Election and the Working Class’.
He is widely seen as an astute intellectual with a strong sense of ethics and morality.