The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has described Mahmood Yakubu’s exit from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a test case for Anambra’s November 8 poll.

It said in a statement issued on Wednesday in Enugu: “It is also our position that the exit of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as INEC Chairman stands the chance of singling out Anambra State as the greatest beneficiary ahead of the State’s Nov 8 Governorship Election especially if the new INEC Head decides to directly or vicariously turn the Commission’s rigging table upside down. “Feelers electronically received across the State and South-East in the past 24 hours strongly indicate that the continuation of Prof Mahmood Yakubu as INEC Chairman would have scared and remained a bad news for many registered voters, especially those bearing PVCs who have decided not to vote again under Mahmood Yakubu as INEC Chairman; but good news for election riggers including some candidates contesting for the Nov 8 Governorship Poll, who would have wanted the immediate INEC helmsman to remain as INEC boss for the poll to be manipulated under his vicarious watch. It is therefore observed that Prof Mahmood Yakubu’s exit as INEC boss has the capacity of rekindling hopes including voter participation involving hundreds of thousands of PVC-bearers and voters across the State only if the new INEC boss in charge of the Nov 8, Poll will have a clear departure from an inglorious epoch of Prof Mahmood Yakubu as INEC Chairman.”