For decades, Nigeria has been trapped in a vicious cycle of hopeless elections, manipulated results, and imposed leaders. While we often focus our rage on individual politicians, parties, and external actors, we continue to overlook the very institution that makes all this possible: INEC, the Independent National Electoral Commission, a name that has become more of a national insult than a democratic pillar.
INEC is the root of Nigeria’s democratic decay. Period.
Every four years, Nigerians turn up in hope, queue in the sun, vote in faith, only to watch INEC shatter their dreams with brazen manipulation, technical sabotage, and collusion with the ruling elite. Yet, we point fingers everywhere except at the one place where the rot truly lies.
INEC Has Never Been Independent
INEC is “independent” only in name. In reality, it is a puppet, tightly gripped by the Executive and enabled by a complicit National Assembly. Its leadership is appointed by the same political class it is supposed to hold accountable. How then do we expect free and fair elections?
Take for instance:
2015 Elections: The myth of “change” sold to Nigerians came through a manipulated narrative, with backdoor interference from both local and international interests. The system was rigged to favor a predetermined candidate.
2019 Elections: INEC postponed the presidential election just hours before voting, citing “logistics issues.” This last-minute sabotage benefitted the incumbent massively, while millions of Nigerians were disenfranchised.
2023 Elections: The biggest electoral scam in modern Nigerian history. INEC introduced BVAS and IReV to sell credibility, only to fail to upload results real-time, collapse server systems, and announce results that clearly contradicted figures from polling units. Till today, the IReV database is still a crime scene.
Aiding Political Criminality
Why are we not investigating how INEC is handling the recall process of Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan? Why does INEC consistently ignore court orders? Why does INEC validate primaries conducted in secret by cabals and party godfathers? Why has no INEC chairman ever been jailed, despite years of fraudulent elections?
The truth is simple: INEC has become the tool through which Nigeria’s political elite manipulate, hijack, and crush the will of the people. They cannot afford an independent umpire. They need this version of INEC, toothless, compromised, and servile.
National Assembly Is Not Innocent
Don’t expect the National Assembly to fix INEC. They are products of the same fraudulent system. They benefit from low voter turnout, suppressed opposition, and cooked results. They know that an unbundled and truly independent INEC would flush them out.
They won’t bite the hand that feeds them.
What Must Be Done – Before 2027
If Nigerians do not mobilize, organize, and demand a total unbundling of INEC now, we will walk blindly into another sham election in 2027. And after another four years of disaster, we will start the blame game again, as if we haven’t seen this movie before.
We must demand:
- Unbundling INEC – Separate bodies for voter registration, electoral offences, and results collation.
- Independent Appointment of INEC Leadership – Involving credible civil society, judiciary, and not just the President.
- Full Digital Transparency – A legally binding framework to enforce the use and live release of all digital election tools.
- Strict Punishment for Electoral Crimes – Including life bans and criminal prosecution of INEC officials and party agents who rig or manipulate results.
- Immidiete removal of the INEC chairman for bungling the 2023 elections.
It’s Time to Protest the Right Target
Nigerians have marched against police brutality, bad governance, fuel subsidy scams, and corruption. But we have not risen to challenge the one institution that enables ALL of them: INEC.
We must rise now. Or prepare to be betrayed again.
INEC is not the solution. INEC is the problem. Until we fix it, Nigeria will never truly know democracy.
By Hon. Chimazuru Ignatius Nnadi-Oforgu
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