…warns against state capture, undermining judiciary, INEC

Sequel to the widespread allegations of massive rigging and attempts to capture the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) has warned that Nigeria was fast becoming a failed state.
  
The warning was contained in a statement yesterday by the founder and Chairman of CIFCFIN Governing Council, Dr Iliyasu Gashinbaki, following the allegations before and after the just-concluded party primaries, with the institute saying they should not be treated as mere conspiracy theories.
 
“They are the known pathologies of democratic collapse leading to failed states. If these conditions persist into 2027, our elections cannot be free or fair,” CIFCFIN stated.

CIFCFIN added: “We must deploy pre-election forensic vetting of every candidate’s academic certificates, birth records and tax clearances – long before any ballot is printed. The Chartered Institute of Forensics stands ready to help certify/authenticate their veracity or otherwise.
   
“Forensic analysts must be embedded within INEC’s result collation system to detect manipulation in real time, and forensic deep-fake detection experts must be engaged to counter AI-generated disinformation designed to mislead voters and the courts. Forensic evidence is the only language a captured judiciary cannot easily ignore.”
   
To prevent a failed state, the institute demanded a “mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results by INEC, a publicly forensically audited voter register 90 days before voting, the immediate investigation by the National Judicial Council of judges who issue conflicting ex parte orders, and a level playing field for all 18 political parties, free from any form of perceived manipulation.”
  
It added that “without these, 2027 would produce the same or even worse outcomes than the poorly conducted primary elections.”
  
According to the statement, which was also to celebrate Nigeria’s Democracy Day, conditions and rules alone are powerless without enforcement, and “this is where forensics transforms hope into reality.
   
It stated that the Electoral Act 2026 – specifically sections that permit manual result tampering and delay electronic transmission – contains fatal loopholes, stressing the need for the National Assembly to repeal them immediately.
   
“Additionally, the National Judicial Council must fast-track the investigation of judges suspected of political capture, and any judicial officer found to have issued orders sabotaging electoral timelines should face immediate suspension and prosecution.
   
“Democracy cannot survive in any nation where the umpire and the referee are both compromised.”
   
Gashinbaki further called on all Nigerians, groups such as the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and all civil society organisations, to demand a forensically-tracked mandatory public stress test of INEC’s technology no later than six months before the election. Moreover, “let the results be broadcast live. If the system fails in a mock, it will be a disaster in reality.
   
“The threat to true democracy is imminent, but it is not irreversible. Forensics will not save Nigeria; Nigerians who demand mandatory forensics will.”