November 18, (THEWILL) – Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has demanded a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s electoral system, including the dismissal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu and other officials involved in overseeing elections.
Speaking at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University in the United States, where he presented a paper titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria”, Obasanjo described the 2023 general election as a “travesty”.
He pointed to the commission’s failure to utilise cutting-edge technologies, specifically the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), during the 2023 presidential election, despite promises to the contrary made by Chairman Yakubu. This omission, Obasanjo alleged, led to widespread voting irregularities.
Underscoring the imperative for reforming the electoral system to restore credibility and trust, the former President advocated for a rigorous vetting process to ensure that only impartial, non-partisan individuals with unimpeachable reputations are appointed to these critical positions.
Obasanjo said Nigeria must prevent electoral interference at every level, protecting elections from foreign and local malevolent actors to safeguard democratic integrity.
While emphasising that INEC’s leadership must demonstrate unwavering independence, transparency, and incorruptibility, Obasanjo said its officials should have shorter tenures and a more rigorous vetting process to prevent the appointment of partisan individuals.
He said, “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.
“Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government, and municipal—city, town, and village levels—with short tenures—to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption and re-establish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens.
“The INEC chairperson must not only be absolutely above board, but he must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.”
“On the local level, we should implement and enforce clearly defined financial regulations for political campaigns and establish effective control and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with financial regulations,” the former president advocated.
“And intensify activities to prepare and secure the voting infrastructure, such as safeguarding the technology used to collate, transmit, verify, and disseminate election results.
“The BVAS and IReV are two technological innovations that, prior to 2023, were celebrated for their potential to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes.
“These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. INEC wilfully failed to use or implement them, which resulted in widespread voting irregularities. It was a case of inviting the fox into the henhouse.”
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