There is an ongoing tussle over who replaces Festus Okoye as national commissioner from the South East zone at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The five-year tenure of Okoye recently elapsed, but feelers say the former INEC commissioner in charge of voters education is interested in returning to the commission and has already commenced lobbying.
Sources say powerful interest blocs are putting pressure on President Bola Tinubu to reappoint Okoye.
However, it was gathered that some civil society organisations (CSOs) are uncomfortable with Okoye returning.
They are citing what they described as his poor handling of INEC’s communication during the last general election which gave room for lots of misinformation on activities of the electoral umpire.
Many election observers complained about the poor voter education during the last general election and many CSOs say Okoye being head of voter education should take the blame.
It was gathered that some CSOs and some within the president’s core who believe in electoral integrity of the commission favour Chris Ngwu, a professor of Mass Communication from Enugu, to replace Okoye.
The situation has put President Tinubu in a state of dilemma.
Although, it is also argued against Okoye that the position should be allowed to rotate to Enugu state where Ngwu hails from.
Okoye, who is from Imo state, replaced Prof Ibano from Anambra state.
