‘Be Careful or Risk Ending Up Worse Than Yakubu’, Onovo Warns New INEC Boss

• Chief Martin Onovo urges Prof. Joash Amupitan, the newly appointed INEC Chairman, to uphold integrity and loyalty to Nigeria, warning that failure could tarnish his legacy even more than Mahmood Yakubu’s.

Chief Martin Onovo, the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) and current Head of Policy Positions at the Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), has issued a stern warning to Prof. Joash Amupitan, the newly appointed INEC Chairman, advising him to avoid repeating the mistakes of his predecessor, Mahmood Yakubu.

In an exclusive interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, Onovo said the new INEC boss must follow the path of integrity, remain loyal to God and his country, and not be swayed by political patrons.

“My advice to the new INEC Chairman is to try to follow the path of integrity and not disgrace his children and end up like Mahmood Yakubu, the worst INEC Chairman since independence,”

Onovo said. “We know that it is Jagaban Tinubu who appointed him, but his loyalty must be to God and his country and not to Jagaban Tinubu or any other person without basic education who forfeited $460,000 proceeds of narcotics trafficking. Otherwise, his name may end up worse than that of Dr. Isola Oyenusi.”

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Onovo also addressed Nigeria’s security challenges, including the U.S. designation of the country as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over the alleged killings of Christians, stressing that the ongoing violence by Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansaru, and Fulani herdsmen has persisted for over 15 years. He warned that the government’s failure to tackle terrorism has damaged Nigeria’s international credibility.

Commenting on political developments, Onovo described the recent retirement and reshuffle of service chiefs as largely political moves and warned that corruption and weak leadership continue to threaten Nigeria’s democratic and security systems.

He also weighed in on the state of opposition politics, asserting that despite internal crises and defections, the PDP and other opposition parties can rebuild to challenge the ruling APC, which he described as consolidating a corrupt and incompetent dictatorship.

Onovo’s message to Prof. Amupitan was unmistakable: his legacy depends on integrity, courage, and independence. Failure to uphold these values, he warned, could lead to a name remembered with infamy in Nigeria’s history of electoral oversight.