Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigeria to appoint credible leadership at all levels of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Obasanjo made the statement in an address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
He emphasized that thorough vetting and the selection of dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations are essential for maintaining electoral integrity.
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“As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted.
“The vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations,” Obasanjo said.
He stressed that the INEC leadership must be transparently independent and incorruptible to regain the trust of Nigerian citizens.
Obasanjo described Nigeria’s 2023 elections as “a travesty” and called for immediate reforms to prevent a recurrence.
He advocated for the appointment of new, credible INEC leadership at all levels with short tenures to minimize political influence and corruption.
The former president buttressed on the need for robust measures to protect voting infrastructure.
He recommended implementing clearly defined financial regulations for political campaigns and ensuring compliance to prevent undue influence.
“We should intensify activities to prepare and secure the voting infrastructure, such as safeguarding the technology used to collate, transmit, verify, and disperse election results,” he noted.
Obasanjo called for pre-election transparency exercises, including ‘penetration testing’ witnessed by international observers to verify the integrity of election systems.
Additionally, he emphasized the physical security of electoral commissions and voters.
He urged Nigeria’s security apparatus to be professionally trained to protect citizens without participating in electoral malfeasance.
“INEC must ensure ballot security to prevent unauthorized access manually or by cybercriminals and guarantee the safe storage and transport of ballots to collation centers,” he added.
Obasanjo criticized INEC’s handling of the 2023 elections, particularly its failure to fully implement the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself.
“In the end, these technologies did not fail; INEC willfully failed to use or implement them, resulting in widespread voting irregularities.
“It was a case of inviting the fox into the hen house,” Obasanjo stated.
He called for the introduction of post-election audits and transparent processes to build public trust in the electoral system.
Obasanjo concluded that Nigeria must establish mechanisms to prevent both local and foreign interference in its elections, securing the future of its democracy.
