The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied appointing former Lagos State Commissioner Femi Odubiyi as head of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department. The denial follows a claim by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Chief Bode George that Odubiyi was made INEC’s ICT head. In a Sunday statement, the former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP urged INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to remove Odubiyi, citing the former commissioner’s closeness to All Progressives Congress presidential candidate and President‑elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. George argued that Yakubu’s first priority should be to explain to Nigerians how the ex‑Commissioner for Science and Technology in Lagos State allegedly secured the ICT leadership role—a “critical department before, during and after elections.”
INEC refuted the allegation in a statement released late Tuesday. Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, called the widely publicised report attributed to Bode George 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.” He added that INEC’s ICT staff are career officers of the Commission, none of whom have held any political appointment in any state of the Federation.
The commission urged the public to disregard the story, warning that the promoter of the claim should have been more circumspect to avoid being seen as a purveyor of fake news.
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