Searching for the new INEC chairman

The new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was among the most searched names on the World Wide Web on Wednesday, the day he emerged the organisation’s Ombudsman.

Interest in Yakubu rose sharply at 1pm, according to Google Trends, making him one of the most-researched names by Nigerians as of Wednesday evening.

The new INEC boss, according to Topsy.com, a social media analytics, also received considerably number of mentions on social media. He diverted attention from the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, whose trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal had stolen the day earlier.

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Yakubu, a former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund as the INEC helmsman on Wednesday.

But those searching for the former TETFUND executive secretary on popular social media platforms may be in for a fruitless exercise. Reason: Yakubu does not have a page on Twitter – a platform where the commission the professor now oversees commands a huge following.

Besides, as of Wednesday, there was no other social media account one could trace to the former lecturer. Even with his high status in education and political circle, the academic does not have even a parody page linking to him on the Facebook.

On LinkedIn, a site where one finds professionals who may not be comfortable with other social media tools, the historian is also visibly missing in action.

Perhaps, one could safely say that Yakubu has gone the way of Amina Zakari, who was in charge of INEC until Wednesday, and the former helmsman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

Jega, throughout his tenure, resisted the temptation to join the social media. The same thing applied to Zakari, who is back to her position as an INEC commissioner.

With former heads of INEC who witnessed the social media revolution successfully shunning the temptation to get involved, it looks like there is already an unwritten tradition at the electoral umpire preventing their bosses from keying into the . Well, for Yakubu is up to him to respect the ‘tradition’ or not.

What, however, is beyond Yakubu is how social media will be used to analyse and assess his decisions in coming years.

Meanwhile, his appointment is beginning to attract attention and comments. In fact, online activists have started scrutinising his credential, digging into past media reports on his activities at the TETFUND.

Online reports say Yakubu, the earliest first-class graduate of History from the North, had lectured at the Nigeria Defence Academy before joining the Federal Ministry of Education.