Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, will bow out of the commission next week Tuesday with six national commissioners, following the expiration of their five-year tenure.

The other six national commissioners whose tenures expire on the same day are: Col. M.K. Hammanga (Rtd) Adamawa State (North East); Dr Ishmael Jikiri Igbani, Rivers State (South South); Prof. Lai Olurode, Osun State (South West); Dame Gladys Nne Nwafor, Abia State (South East); Mrs Thelma Amata Iremiren, Delta State (South South); and Engr. Dr. Nuru Yakubu, Yobe State (North East). They were inaugurated by former President Goodluck Jonathan on June 30, 2010. Four other National Commissioners, according to INEC Daily Bulletin which was released yesterday, are to leave the Commission in July and August this year. They are: Dr. Abdulkadir Oniyangi, Kwara State (North Central), whose tenure will expire on July 21, 2015; Mrs Amina Bala Zakari, Jigawa State (North West); whose tenure will also expire on July 21, 2015; Dr Chris Iyimoga, Nasarawa State (North Central); whose tenure will expire on August 11, 2015; and Amb. Mohammed Ahmad Wali, Sokoto State (North West) whose tenure will also expire on August 11, 2015.

The tenure of 16 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) has expired and they left the commission last week. They are: Ahmad Makama, Bauchi State; Haliru Tambuwal, Sokoto State; Abdullahi Umar Danyaya, Niger State; Abubakar Wara, Kebbi State; Mr. Mike Igini, Delta State; Prof. Selina Omagha Oko, Ebonyi State; Hussaini Ahmed Mahuta, Katsina State; Dr. A.L. Ogunmola, Oyo State; Alh. Ibrahim Zarewa, Kano State; Prof. Tukur Sa'ad, Adamawa State; Dr. Emmanuel Onucheyo, Kogi State; Kassim Gana Gaidam, Yobe State; Mr. Timothy Ibitoye, Osun State; Amb. Rufus Akeju, Lagos State; Prof. C.E. Onukaogu, Abia State; and Ibrahim Bagobiri Marafa, Zamfara State.

The release from INEC stated that the commission's work would continue apace and uninterrupted despite the progressive expiration of the tenures of national commissioners because it can always form a quorum going by the provision of Section 159 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).