“INEC Leadership Must Be Overhauled to Restore Trust” – Obasanjo

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the immediate overhaul of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) leadership, stating that credible appointments with shorter tenures are essential to prevent corruption and rebuild public confidence in the electoral system. Speaking at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Obasanjo delivered a keynote address titled Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria, in which he condemned the 2023 general elections as a “travesty.”

Obasanjo emphasized the need for a thorough vetting process to ensure that INEC officials are dispassionate, non-partisan, and possess impeccable reputations. He stressed that credible leadership across federal, state, and local levels is crucial, with short tenures helping to limit undesirable political influence and safeguard the electoral process. According to him, the INEC chairperson must be transparently independent and incorruptible to inspire trust in the system.

In addition to advocating for leadership changes, Obasanjo called for measures to protect elections from both local and foreign interference. He urged the implementation of clearly defined financial regulations for political campaigns to promote accountability and transparency. The former president also highlighted the need to secure voting infrastructure, including the technology used to collate, transmit, and verify election results, ensuring its reliability and accuracy.

Obasanjo accused INEC of intentionally failing to utilize the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Election Viewing Portal (IReV) during the 2023 elections. These technologies, he noted, had been celebrated for their potential to enhance electoral transparency, eliminate rigging, and build public trust. However, he claimed INEC deliberately sidelined them, leading to widespread irregularities and eroding faith in the electoral process.

“The BVAS and IReV did not fail; INEC willfully failed to use or implement them,” Obasanjo asserted. “It was a case of inviting the fox into the henhouse.”

The former president also stressed the urgency of addressing these failures to restore the integrity of Nigeria’s democracy. He called for immediate reforms to ensure that elections are free from interference, urging Nigerians to demand accountability and transparency in the appointment of electoral officials.