Group Urges INEC to Use Anambra Poll to Restore Public Confidence

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has urged the newly appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Ojo Amupitan, to use the forthcoming November 8 governorship election in Anambra State as a platform to rebuild public confidence in the electoral process.

The group said that, since 1999, Nigeria has struggled to produce an INEC chairman capable of delivering transparent and credible elections that would deepen the nation’s democracy.

In a statement issued in Enugu and signed by its chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, Intersociety noted that the best-managed elections in Nigeria’s history remain those conducted under Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, describing his tenure as the benchmark for integrity and credibility in the country’s electoral system.

According to the statement, “Nigeria is yet to produce a better and top-rated democratic INEC chairman in the past 26 years. Ironically, the country’s electoral process was better handled by some of the commission’s chairmen during the military era than in the democratic dispensation.”

The group rated Prof. Nwosu as the most outstanding electoral umpire since Nigeria’s first indigenous elections in 1959.

In contrast, Intersociety criticised the performances of recent INEC chairmen, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (2015–2025), Prof. Maurice Iwu (2005–2010), and Prof. Attahiru Jega (2010–2015) describing them as “very lowly rated” due to irregularities and mismanagement that allegedly characterised their tenures.

It alleged that under Jega, the national voters’ register was compromised and infiltrated with underage and ineligible persons, while millions of legitimate voters, especially in the South, were disenfranchised.

On Iwu’s tenure, the group claimed that the voters’ register was fraught with fictitious entries, including names of non-existent individuals and foreign nationals, as well as objects and photographs sourced from across Africa.

Speaking on Mahmood Yakubu’s era, the group said: “His tenure recorded the worst election management in Nigeria’s democratic history, despite the availability of advanced technology that could have made the process more transparent and credible.”

Intersociety therefore called on Prof. Amupitan to seize the opportunity presented by the upcoming Anambra governorship election to set a new standard for fairness, transparency, and credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process.

> “The exit of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu should mark the beginning of a new era for credible elections. The Anambra poll offers a chance to restore hope in Nigeria’s democracy,” the statement added.