26th April 2026, NewsOrient, Opinion, Column, Politics, Governance And Development, Law And Society, News By Sam Egburonu Esq
08023165410 egburosam1@gmail.com

To most Nigerians, democratic election will remain a sham until the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, truly builds a reputation as an independent electoral umpire.

Of course, on paper, INEC has already been named an independent body, empowered by law to conduct elections in Nigeria and to declare winners and losers without undue influence.

But over the years, Nigerians have reasons to doubt the independence of this all important regulatory organisation, partly because it is the President of the country that appoints the Chairman of INEC (the Chief Returning Officer) even when the same President is going to be a major contestant in the next election.

Also, over the years, most of the top INEC officials accused of corrupt practices, have somehow managed to mock both the accusers and the claim that suggest they are unfairly protected from true prosecution and condemnation.

As would be expected, these facts have laid eggs of suspicion of bias in favour of the President of Nigeria and his political party.

But should it be so? In a Presidential Election, should the voters even be given any reason to suspect that an INEC Chairman can ever contemplate announcement of ‘wrong result’ in favour of the President and his political party simply because it was the President that appointed him to the office?

Also, are the laws of the country, drafted to protect the democratic process, also be suspected of deliberate protection of corrupt officials of the electoral umpire?

To me, the answers to these simple posers should be ‘no.’ But in our clime, sit-tight syndrome easily oils the greed of leaders to do the unthinkable.

For a leader to take undue advantage of the powers granted to him by law to subject, exploit and enslave the same people he is supposed to lead and protect, is criminal. Yes! It is criminal greed that would make a leader to debase the sanctity of leadership to the extent of subjugating public institutions in order to enthrone and perpetuate his or his group’s selfish interests.
This is what has emboldened so-called Nigerian leaders and appointees to openly distort beautiful democratic norms.

So, as the 2027 Elections draw closer, Nigerians are more sceptical than expectant. Why? The answer is simply because more Nigerians fear the forthcoming election would be rigged or deliberately marred.

I share this concern. Yes, most Nigerians now view election results announced by INEC with grave suspicion or sometimes outright disbelief.

This is even more after the sordid details of the incredible 2023 alleged last minute “glitch” or ‘failure’ of INEC’s IRev Bimodal device under Prof Mahmood Yakubu’s watch.

More than anything else, INEC’s failure to transmit the 2023 Election live, using IRev Bimodal device as promised, has dampened the morale of Nigerian voters who have desperately hoped for free, fair and true democratic elections in the country.

As we all know, INEC, in it’s official report on the 2023 Presidential Election had agreed with embittered voters that “a key challenge that impacted on the public perception of the election and elicited widespread commentary was the failure to upload Polling Unit results of the Presidential Election to IReV in real-time at the close of polls on Saturday 25 February 2023.”

The electoral umpire submitted however that: “By and large, the glitch experienced in uploading the scanned images of polling unit presidential election result sheets on 25th February 2023 was due to the inherent complexity within the system, which was difficult to anticipate and mitigate.”

The anger of Nigerians over that unfortunate development or claim subsists till date.
Before the elections, INEC had repeatedly promised the people that it would “upload the election results to the IRev portal in real-time.” This promise was the central pillar that held the foundation of a hoped free and fair elections in 2023.

Perhaps because of this promise, the level of mass mobilisation and participation was unheard of in Nigeria.

To ensure that this was done, or so we thought, the government of late President Muhammadu Buhari had pumped in billions of naira to INEC for acquisition and maintenance of IRev savvy technical capacity during the 2023 Elections.

It was excited Nigerian voters that applauded INEC then when it confirmed that it had concluded plans “to spend N117bn on electoral technologies.” INEC defended this high expenditure because, according to it, it was “in line with its decision to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the Result Viewing Portal during the elections.

If INEC had not demonstrated it’s capacity to successfully deploy the use of these technologies before the Presidential Election, perhaps, it would have been easier for the people to forgive the electoral umpire. But it did.
For example, INEC was able to upload the results of the National Assembly elections; elections held on the same day and at the same time onto IReV.

So, when the same INEC said the Presidential Elections could not be uploaded like the National Assembly Elections, it had remained a tale too difficult to comprehend and accept.

I am of the opinion today that the outcome of the challenge of that year’s General Elections by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the then Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi, the then Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, plus the dent the entire proceedings left on INEC’s credibility are still naked injuries that must be fully treated before Nigerian democratic process can move on more successfully and satisfactorily.

I recall that while delivering judgement on the suits filed by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, challenging the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, whom INEC declared winner of the disputed election, the Supreme Court noted that “the malfunctioning of IReV during the Presidential Election reduced public confidence in the electoral process.”

Inyang Okoro, the Presiding Justice, who read the apex court’s lead decision, held, amongst others: “Truth must be told, the non-functioning of the IReV may have also reduced the confidence of the voting public in the electoral process.”

In my understanding, I will argue that this is an undisguised admission of failure of the system by the apex court. It also contains an important advise to do it better.

So, three years after, and as we prepare for another General Elections in 2027, may I say here that one of the major issues that must be truly resolved first is the credibility of INEC, the electoral umpire or it’s capacity to deliver on its promises.

Truth be told, never has Nigerians viewed INEC with so much distrust as they do today under the leadership of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN.

The distrust is so much that some swear the INEC Chairman, a very Senior lawyer, is not doing enough to even hide his alleged bias.

They also alleged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, perhaps more than any other civilian President that has ruled Nigeria, has demonstrated capacity to either put opposition or institutions of state under his firm control or to rattle, subjugate or destabilize them.

This perception of Mr President has led to the fear that he will, most likely, not allow INEC a free hand to conduct the 2027 Elections in which he is contesting for re-election on the platform of the ruling political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Given this difficult reality, I think so much depends on the character, capacity and resolve of Prof Amupitan, the current INEC boss, to either redeem INEC’s battered image and save Nigerian democracy or to finally destroy both INEC and Nigerian democracy.

If you ask me, I will advice Amupitan not to expect free hand from Tinubu and his political associates. They will certainly come at him and demand from him a verdict of return to power. Yes, they will and please don’t ask me the details of how this mandate will be communicated to the embattled INEC boss.

If you ask me also, I will confirm to you that the opposition, which is already getting the heat from the top, is aware of Amupitan’s difficult mandate. It is also not preparing for a repeat of the 2023 dance of shame. No!

So, something new is bound to happen in Nigeria and in Nigeria’s democratic process in 2027.

Some intellectuals have come out with well researched reports on how to resolve current Nigerian democratic dilemma and had enumerated many approaches and factors that will bring the much desired solution. Some of the solutions I have read include establishment of an Independent Electoral Offences Commission to prosecute violators of electoral laws, rules and regulations. One of such erudite reports describe this solution as “a key step in rebuilding trust.”

Other such write ups have listed “Whistleblower Policy” and “better communication” among numerous other measures that will help redeem voter confidence in Nigeria.

While an Independent Electoral Offences Commission, it is said, “will help to strengthen internal accountability” and whistleblower policy, is being projected as a critical strategy to “combat internal corruption and collusion,” I make bold here to say that all these will work only if Amupitan is ready to stick out his neck and to disobey demands of all contestants, including that of President Tinubu, that are contrary to the true demands of his office as the head of the country’s independent electoral umpire.

I however agree that INEC, especially INEC under Prof Amupitan, truly needs better communication strategies.

It is a shame that since the 2023 IREV tragedy, INEC has held on to defensive public relations approach rather than seeking ways to engage the Nigerian people more truthfully and directly, a policy that will help INEC to build greater understanding and trust.

So, as we approach the 2027 Elections, INEC and it’s leader, Amupitan must be reminded that most Nigerians today do not believe INEC will announce the correct result. INEC has the task of proving to Nigerians and assuring them that this fear is misplaced.

INEC and Amupitan also need to be told that most Nigerians today see the forthcoming 2027 exercise as a sham. If it is not going to be another sham, INEC has the Herculean task of proving this to the Nigerian electorates long before elections.

Already, the battles raging in the political parties send troubling signals, signals that even INEC’s roles have not offered much hopes and assurances for.

Still haunted by the ghost of 2023 Election results, common Nigerians do not want 2027 Elections to be won in courts. They want their votes to count. Hungry Nigerians do not want Amupitan-led INEC to sink another billions of Nigerian Naira to organize yet another sham in 2027. They say if this is deliberately staged again, there is likelihood the people will not act in the same docile way they acted in 2023. A word is enough for the wise.

• Sam Egburonu Esq, a veteran Journalist, is a Lawyer and Public Affairs Analyst

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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