January 11, (THEWILL) — At a two-day Induction and Strategic Retreat for newly appointed Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners held in Lagos on Friday and Saturday, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), said, among other things, that the five non-negotiable pillars guiding the commission’s work are freedom from interference, fairness to all political parties and candidates, credibility in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community, transparency at every stage of the process and inclusivity to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised.
Lofty ideas, if implemented would redefine the current crisis-ridden political landscape, strengthen democratic governance and stabilise the polity for long-term investment and business. Unfortunately, many, particularly political parties, doubt the Commission’s intentions. The Labour Party, LP, is one such doubters. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is another. An umbrella political organisation, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP is yet another. In fact, the list of complainants, including electoral fraud, stretches far back, before Amupitan’s assumption of office.
SINS OF INEC
For the 2023 general elections, for example, 700 offenders were arrested by men of the Nigeria Police Force for violating electoral laws.
Many of them were staff of the Commission. Remarkably, high caliber, adhoc staff of the Commission, like Professors had been indicted by the courts and jailed for electoral fraud. Professor Ignatius Uduk, a professor of Human Kinetics in the Department of Physical and Health Education at the University of Uyo, was jailed by a State High Court in Uyo for election fraud in 2019. He was found guilty of the announcement of false election results, publication of false results, and perjury during the 2019 general elections in Essien Udim State Constituency, where he served as INEC’s collation and returning officer. Similarly, the State High Court in Uyo, on 25 March 2021, found Professor Peter Ogban guilty of announcing fake election results in two local government areas Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo, and sentenced him to jail the same day.
In May 2025, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Bar Association, commenced the prosecution of some staff of the Commission indicted for various electoral offences during the 2023 general elections.
Even the Commission said on May 2, 2023, that it would prosecute 215 handed over to it out of the 774 persons arrested for various electoral offences by the police during the polls.
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The commission said it was partnering with the NBA, which offered pro bono legal services for the effective prosecution of the electoral offenders.
Out of the 215 case files received by the commission, 196 cases are electoral offences and are being handled by INEC and the NBA.
The National Publicity Secretary, NBA, Habeeb Lawal, told journalists that “Some of the suspects are INEC officials, while others are political party members and people without determinable political affiliations. The magistrates’ courts and the high courts of the states and the FCT have jurisdiction over electoral offences by virtue of the Electoral Act.”
In another instance, four senators, two governors, and 23 members of the House of Representatives have had their victories at the February 25, 2023, polls overturned. 18 members of the House of Representatives were sacked.
Yet, with just four months in office and despite his vow to conduct the freest and fairest poll where the loser will congratulate the victor and abjure litigation, the fears and doubts linger.
Pundits argue that as a regulator, the Commission allows too much room to political parties, such that politicians, especially of means and connection, who disagree with their party and reject pleas to explore internal party mechanism for conflict resolution, go to court and secure an order which they proceed to flaunt on INEC’s face with impunity.
“The National Chairman, Prof Amupitan is doing his job. I can tell you that the things we find disagreeable are being done by those with entrenched interests before he came on board. But it is left to him to sanitise the respective departments,” National Publicity Secretary of the Julius Abure-led Labour Party, Mr Obiora Ifoh told THEWILL during a brief interview.
“INEC has decided to be a political party and also a referee of political parties. They are playing both games instead of being a moderator of parties. We expected them to remain the unbiased umpire and allow politicians to do their thing, especially when the party is a lawful group based on the laws of the land. Nigerians are asking whose interest they are representing. There is no law that stops political parties from fielding candidates. This is the same Commission that has allowed us to field candidates in the Osun governorship election. They gave us codes for Ekiti governorship poll. What is the interest of INEC in FCT poll? INEC should not be a stumbling block in 2027. We knew what happened in 2023 and the memory is still very fresh. LP was the fall guy in 2023. What INEC is trying to do is to rub ‘pepper’ in our eyes.”
According to Ifo, INEC Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs. Victoria Eta-Messi, wrongly referenced a Supreme Court ruling to justify the refusal of the Commission to honour the party’s request to upload the list of the party’s candidates on its portal for the upcoming February 21, 2026, council poll in the Federal Capital Territory.
The electoral umpire on January 5, 2026, explained why it excluded LP from the FCT Council poll. According to the Commission, LP has been involved in prolonged internal leadership disputes since 2024, which culminated in the judgment of the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025 (Usman v. Labour Party) delivered on April 4, 2025.
Eta-Messi stated that in that decision, the apex court decidedly held that the tenure of the Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee had expired.
“It is also pertinent to recall that the Abure-led faction instituted Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1523/2025– Labour Party v. INEC at the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the decision of INEC excluding it from participating in the by-election,” Eta-Messi said, adding that the judgment was delivered on August 15, 2025, dismissing the suit and enforcing the Supreme Court’s position that Abure “was no longer recognised as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and thus upholding the decision of INEC to exclude the LP from the by-election.”
She observed that thereafter, the LP filed multiple suits against INEC in different courts, all seeking orders to compel INEC to grant an access code for the upload of its candidates for the upcoming FCT Area Council.
She cited the latest that rendered LP positions irredeemable.
“By an order exparte in the latest Suit No. CV/4930/2025, the FCT High Court sitting in Life Camp, Abuja granted an interim order on December 16, 2025, directing the commission to upload the names and particulars of Labour Party candidates for the FCT Area Council election.
“The court expressly stated that the order would lapse after seven days unless extended. Upon being served with the originating processes, INEC promptly filed its defence, challenging the competence of the suit and the jurisdiction of the court.”
Arguing that the interim order consequently lapsed on December 23, 2025, and was not extended, she concluded that there is presently no subsisting court order for INEC to act upon.
“She is reading the court judgment upside down.”, Ifoh maintained. “In the Supreme Court judgement, the court did not emphatically say, as Mrs Etta-Messi claim, that Julius Abure is no longer National Chairman of LP. Supreme Court judges said that leaders of political parties must learn how to leave office when their tenure has expired. So, it is surprising to us that INEC interprets ‘leaders of political parties to mean Abure.’ If that is what the Supreme Court said since 2024, why is it that NEC has been corresponding with the same Julius Abure, inviting him to their meetings? Our last NEC on November 28, 2025, was attended by teams from the Commission’s legal and election departments on invitation. Six staff of the Commission. If our leadership was not recognised, they would not have responded to out invitation, a legal requirement accorded INEC by parties.”
OTHERS MAKING SIMILAR CLAIMS
Like the LP, the PDP has made similar accusations against INEC. Giving the fallout of the Ibadan, November 15 and 16, 2025 National Convention of the party, the Commission unambiguously stated that it will not recognise its elected National Working Committee led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, until the legal cases within the party are settled, the party has drawn the battle line with INEC.
The Turaki-led NWC is feuding with a group led by allies of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, namely, Mohammed Abdulrahman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who are Acting National Chairman and Acting National Secretary, respectively.
Hence on December 22, 2025, the Commission reportedly wrote the lawyers of the Turaki-led NWC, Akintayo Balogun & Co, saying that it cannot “recognise or update the list of PDP national officers allegedly elected at the November convention, citing compliance with the law and existing court orders.”
The letter dated December 22, 2025, and titled, “Re: Demand for recognition and update of the list of the National Officers Elected at the Purported 2025 Elective National Convention of PDP,” was signed by the Commission’s Secretary, Dr. Rose Oriaran-Anthony. But the Turaki-led PDP is still miffed, accusing INEC of double standards. Referencing the said pending court cases, its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, said INEC was biased.
“The said judgments have been appealed and an application for the stay of execution filed against the judgments. Very soon, the Court of Appeal will hear and give judgment in the matters. While that is being awaited, it is needful to state that INEC monitored and participated in the National Executive Committee meetings where the convention date and venue were unanimously agreed upon and was also in receipt of the notice of the convention—a fact the commission has unconscionably suppressed in court in several cases.
He argued that the primaries in Ekiti and Osun were duly monitored by INEC, with communication emanating from the Turaki-led NWC.
“While INEC claims to be neutral and is awaiting the judgment of the court on the matter, we hope that they are guided by the judgments of the Supreme Court, especially in the SDP case, being the latest delivered last week, barring INEC from interfering in the internal leadership affairs of political parties.”
He wondered why INEC’s Chairman, Prof Amupitan convened a meeting with the warring groups of the party on Friday, December 19, 2025, when he knew the matter was in court. “What was the rationale for the contrived meeting except to paint a false perception of faction to justify their actions and inactions,” he queried.
However, Amupitan had explained that the meeting was called to address conflicting correspondences from the party as preparations for the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections in June and July 2026, gathers momentum. He said the Commission had already circulated its election timetable and guidelines to all registered political parties and was determined to ensure smooth and credible polls in the affected areas.
This seeming ambiguity on the part of INEC is being used by the party to justify its authenticity.
During a recent visit to former President Jonathan alongside his NWC, Turaki said that INEC had unwittingly recognised his leadership. He said that the Commission responded to the party’s invitation to INEC to monitor its governorship primaries in Osun and Ekiti and it provided portal passwords for data uploads but later blocked the party’s access.
“We had done manual submission to INEC, which they collected. INEC, as a regulator, has the discretion to attend or refuse, but they honoured our notices. As far as I am concerned, INEC has recognised this leadership,” he said.
INEC ACT USED BY POLITICAL PARTIES
Aggrieved political parties often quote Part V, section 82 (2) of the 2022 Electoral Act to make their case. It says: “The Commission may, with or without prior notice to the political party attend and observe any convention, congress, conference or meeting which is convened by a political party… But in section 84 (1), the same Act in clarification, says that “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective position which shall be monitored by the Commission…”
OTHER REACTIONS
One of the umbrella bodies of political parties in Nigeria, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, faults both the Commission and the political parties. Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade James Ezema told THEWILL that “INEC’s role is not merely reactive or procedural; it is meant to be preventive, consistent and guided strictly by the law. However, what we are witnessing in several parties today suggests regulatory inconsistency and selective action. When INEC issues affidavits that invalidate party conventions but fails to promptly align its administrative actions with clear and final court judgments, it creates uncertainty that fuels factionalism rather than resolving it.
“Similarly, when INEC monitors party primaries and later disowns or excludes the outcomes without transparent, uniform and timely explanations, it weakens internal party discipline and emboldens competing factions to exploit regulatory ambiguities. These contradictions do not prevent crises; they often deepen them.”
“To prevent recurring internal party conflicts, INEC must apply the same standards to all political parties, act decisively in line with judicial pronouncements and ensure that its actions are predictable, transparent and non-partisan. Only then can it truly fulfil its constitutional mandate as a regulator that stabilises, rather than destabilises Nigeria’s party system.”
He said parties also has a share of the problem, saying that while INEC has a constitutional duty to regulate political parties, the parties themselves also bear significant responsibility for preventing and resolving internal crises.
“This is because regulation alone cannot substitute for internal discipline, institutional maturity and respect for democratic norms within the parties.”
Efforts to get reactions from the Commission failed. When he was contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman, Dayo Oketola, asked that questions be sent to his WhatsApp page, but he did not respond.
WAY FORWARD
According to the CNPP, political parties must strengthen their internal governance structures. This means strict adherence to their constitutions, clear rules on conventions, congresses, primaries, and leadership succession and transparent internal dispute-resolution mechanisms that are credible and independent. He said that many crises persist because political parties resort too quickly to the courts instead of exhausting internal remedies. “This is what CNPP promotes,” he added.
He said, “Parties must de-personalise leadership and reduce the overcentralisation of power. Internal democracy cannot thrive where party structures are treated as personal estates. When rules are clear and leadership turnover is predictable, factions have fewer incentives to engage in destructive power struggles.
“Political parties should collectively engage INEC in a structured and principled manner. This is where the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has been playing a critical role as an umbrella body. The CNPP is moving beyond ad-hoc statements to becoming an institutional platform for collective advocacy. The CNPP will continue to promote code of conduct on internal party democracy and advocate for same.
“Ultimately, while INEC must act impartially, political parties, through stronger internal democracy and collective action, can significantly reduce crises and contribute to a more stable and credible democratic process in Nigeria. This is what the CNPP will always advocate for.
Mr Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of the International Press Centre, one of the five Civil Society Organisations, alongside INEC, which is involved in the electoral process supported by the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, EU-SDGN, canvassed more powers for political parties in the ongoing proposed amendments of the constitutional and electoral act.
“Apart from litigations which interfere with the electoral processes and puts INEC in a dilemma because the Commission is always joined in every party suit, political parties, for instance, should be allowed to nominate replacements for by-elections and stop the vacancies that arise when serving lawmakers at each tier struggle to replace each other thereby resulting in unnecessary by-elections conducted by INEC.”
For INEC Chairman, Amupitan, speaking at the two-day retreat that ended Saturday, early planning, strategic coordination and strict adherence to the rule of law would be critical to the credibility of the 2027 general election, stressing that the process must be anchored on professionalism and integrity.
He gave the assurance that INEC would continue to operate strictly within the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and any subsequent amendments.
He explained that 17 critical thematic areas aimed at strengthening election management, including logistics and personnel deployment, Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), election security and inter-agency collaboration, political party regulation, campaign finance transparency, result management and the training of election personnel were covered during the retreat, putting the Commission on a firmer ground to deliver on its core electoral mandate.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
