The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has denied appointing a former Lagos State Commissioner Femi Odubiyi, as its head of the Information and Communications Technology, ICT, department.
This follows the claim made by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Bode George, that the former commissioner was made INEC’s ICT head.
The former PDP Deputy National Chairman on Sunday in a statement said the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, must remove Odubiyi as the Commission’s ICT head because of his closeness to the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress and President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He further said Yakubu must also explain to Nigerians how the former Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State allegedly got into INEC as head of ICT, “a critical department before, during and after elections.”
INEC, however, in a statement late on Tuesday, through the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the widely publicised report attributed to Bode George was a false claim. “Nothing can be farther from the truth,” Okoye said.
“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.”
INEC said its ICT staff were career officers of the Commission and “none has held any political appointment in any state of the Federation.”
“The public is urged to disregard the story. The promoter should have been circumspect so as not to be seen as a purveyor of fake news.”
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
