The exit of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), after ten eventful years (of two terms each of five years), is significant at this time of Nigeria’s political realities. Being the body responsible for the conduct of elections, the commission is the engine room of democracy, and, for that reason, is always the centrepiece of democracy discourse.
Like previous electoral umpires before it, INEC grapples with the tough terrain of political elections in Nigeria, and has made some progress, however limited, including under its present leadership. However, not a few well-meaning Nigerians are of the view that the commission, to the extent of its inability to satisfy the generality of Nigerians and international election monitors, has underperformed. In particular, people point to gains recorded in some past elections, which, unfortunately, could not be replicated in later polls.
The country is still reeling from the huge controversies and intricacies of the 2023 General Elections, which were tested to the hilt. The presidential election was thoroughly disputed up to the Supreme Court and beyond, even after seven eminent justices spent about 10 hours to present legal and factual analyses of their decision affirming the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The electoral commission under Yakubu is naturally the fallout institution of these controversies, for good reasons: it is the agency of government charged statutorily with organising and conducting free, credible elections into the country’s political offices. That is always a herculean task, given the country’s complexities across ideological, ethnic, class, religious and political party divides, among others.
Added to the winner-takes-all attitude of politicians with their do-or-die spirit and high litigious inclination, elections in Nigeria are never a tea party. Be that as it may, some real progress was recorded by INEC, leading to the election of Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, and that of the late President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
For varying reasons, many Nigerians believe that the 2023 elections fell short of the progress already recorded, thus concluding that the elections represented missed opportunities in the country’s electoral annals. A major plank of the complaint against INEC in that election was the failure to use electronic technology to drive the election, particularly the presidential election, to its logical conclusion.
In a Foreword to INEC”s book – Innovations In Electoral Technology 2015 – 2025, Yakubu himself chronicled technological innovations designed and deployed by the commission over the years, noting: “The ability of the Commission to deploy electoral technology was enhanced by the Electoral Act 2022 which provided the legal basis for the use of relevant technologies and deployment of digital portals, tools and platforms in the conduct of electoral activities.
Specifically, Sections 9(2), 47(2), 50(2) and 60(5) legally empowered the Commission to deploy the technology of its choice for voter registration, voter accreditation, voting at an election and the transmission of results.” Sadly, the commission failed to use the technology to produce the 2023 presidential winner, explaining that the cause was beyond its control, but this has failed to pacify the losers and complainants about the election.
Yet, the INEC Chairman is not new to the commission’s system. He has served his second and final five-year term since December 2020, during which he has overseen critical electoral processes, including by-elections in 11 states shortly after assuming office. Prior to his role at INEC, he held academic and administrative positions, contributing to education and public service, and generally overseeing INEC’s responsibility for organising and overseeing elections at the federal, state, and local levels.
While it may be futile to say that Prof. Yakubu has done his best as the man at the helm of INEC for 10 years, the feeling out there is that Nigeria deserves more than it has achieved in those ten years. What should agitate the mind of all stakeholders, including Yakubu, is: what is in the future for Nigeria’s electoral system? Given the myriad of challenges that INEC has gone through under Yakubu, and all the flip-flops, inclusive of curious and unexplainable judicial rulings across the political landscape, what are the problems and how can they be truly and sustainably overcome to make Nigeria one of the respected democratic countries globally?
The problems have been exhaustively chronicled by election monitors and observers as well as the media over the years. A most recent effort is the Citizens’ Memorandum on Electoral Reform, presented for public discussion a few days ago, with objectives aimed at: strengthening the independence and neutrality of INEC; introducing early and Diaspora voting for greater inclusion; enhancing transparency in result collation and transmission; promoting internal party democracies and curbing money politics; and ensuring timely prosecution of electoral offences.
Independence of INEC starts, of course, with the appointment of its principals, including the chairman. Presently, the appointment process is structured, involving presidential nomination, profiling by the Department of State Services (DSS), advisory review by the National Council of State, and Senate confirmation. Although this rigorous procedure is meant to ensure transparency and adherence to constitutional guidelines in selecting the INEC Chairman, there is an overbearing influence of the president on it in a manner that deprives the process of true independence. Stakeholders assembled by YIAGA Africa and the International Press Centre (IPC) advocate “a multi-stakeholder approach” for appointments into INEC, among other recommendations.
Yakubu still has a key role to play by virtue of his experience and the fact that the INEC after him will necessarily take a cue, however perfunctory or limited, from his footsteps. It is important that he identifies and avail his successor of the booby traps in the election landscape, and why certain measures may not work. The ultimate thrust of his handing over should be to position INEC into a real umpire, impartial, objective and credible. All stakeholders in Project Nigeria should be worried about the dwindling confidence Nigerians have on the electoral system, manifesting in mass apathy in the processes. Government, including the executive and the legislature, should be prepared to safeguard the system and bequeath an enduring political legacy.
Specifically, the strategic objectives and recommendations for the incoming INEC chairman, and other stakeholders, should be to: strengthen the independence and professionalism of INEC to ensure credible elections and inspire public trust in the electoral process; strengthen the institutional autonomy, inclusiveness and capacity of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs); improve the efficiency and effectiveness of INEC in the conduct of elections; address electoral impunity through effective electoral offences prosecution; enhance legitimacy, stability and integrity of the electoral process by concluding all pre and post election matters before swearing in of elected officials; protect citizens’ rights to vote in elections; and safeguard the participation of marginalised groups in the electoral process.
Electoral reforms should also aim to strengthen the institutional, political and financial capacity of political parties to enhance transparency, accountability and inclusivity; promote fair and equitable representation by addressing the distortions in constituency delineation and delimitation; increase citizens’ engagement through improved voter and civic education; improve the integrity of the voter register and voter verification; protect voting rights and inclusiveness of elections; improve the quality of candidates’ selection; safeguard the use of electoral technologies to ensure election integrity; and facilitate equal access to media during elections.
Yakubu has come to the end of a crucial national assignment. For INEC, it should be the beginning of a new, rejuvenated era in Nigeria’s election history. The least Yakubu can do is to facilitate a smooth transition to this desired age.
