CLOSE-UP: Veteran journalist, NITEL CEO, THISDAY law editor… meet INEC’s new commissioners

On Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari swore in six national commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Describing them as persons of integrity, Buhari charged them to be firm and fair.

Below is a brief profile on the new commissioners.

MOHAMMED HARUNA

Haruna, a veteran journalist, hails from Niger state. Born in Ibadan but raised in Kano, Haruna has worked with the  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), African Petroleum, National Oil Company; he has also been a member of Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

Haruna, who obtained a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, has lectured in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna state.

In 1998, Abdulsalami Abubakar appointed him as chief press secretary. He is the new INEC commissioner in charge of the north-east.

MAY AGBAMUCHE

Agbamuche was the editor of THISDAY lawyer, a publication of THISDAY. She currently represents south-south in INEC.

A graduate of the then University of Ife, Agbamuche obtained her master’s from the University of London. She qualified as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1999.

Her areas of specialisation are International Business and Construction Law and Dispute Resolution. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration United Kingdom, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, Law Society of England and Wales and Law Asia.

OGUNMOLA LADIPO

Until his appointment as national commissioner in the south-west, Ladipo was the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Lagos state. He has also served as the REC of Osun state. Ladipo was once the provost of the Oyo State College of Education.

ABUBAKAR NAHUCHE

Nahuche graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a BSc in Electrical Engineering. He later went to Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA, where he obtained an MSc in Communications Engineering in 1978.

He served in the Nigerian army between 1976 and 1983, where he was in charge of fixing communications systems. He joined Nigerian External Communications Ltd, and later NITEl, where he rose to the position of the chief executive officer (CEO). He also worked with Intercellular PLC. He is the commissioner in charge of north-east.

OKECHUKWU IBEANU

Ibeanu is a professor of political science and former dean at the faculty of social sciences at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was a special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the adverse effects of illicit movement and dumping of toxic waste on human rights.

He has worked with the MacArthur Foundation, overseeing its human rights and Niger Delta programmes. He is a former fellow of the United Nations University, Tokyo, and has been a visiting scholar at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, and the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington D.C. He is the south-east commissioner of INEC.

AHMAD MUAZU

Ahmad Muazu, a former commandant of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC,) Jaji, was also a former air officer inspector (AOI) at the headquarters of the Nigerian Air force in Abuja.

He retired from the force in 2012, following the appointment of Alex Badeh, his course mate, as chief of air staff.

Muazu is the commissioner in charge of the north-east region.