A Commission Of All Political Parties Should Appoint INEC Chairman – West-Idahosa

Follow

( 0 Followers )

X

Follow

E-mail : *

Follow Unfollow

As Nigerians look forward to the appointment of a new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the abrupt end to the tenure of Professor Mahmood Yakubu on Wednesday, a former federal lawmaker and senior advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa, has suggested that the appointment of the country’s election umpire should revert to the commission of all the political parties to debate and agree on who to pick.

Dr. West-Idahosa said this is to reduce the influence of the president in the affairs of INEC.

 The former two-term member of the House of Representatives who canvassed this view on Friday as guest speaker at the 2025 edition of the privately-owned Independent Television (ITV) and Radio, Benin City’s Pre-Independence Anniversary Lecture, asserted that the fundamental flaw in the nation’s electoral system “is the vetting of the power to appoint the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the president.”

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, reportedly directed Professor Yakubu to proceed on a forced leave 26 days before the expiration of his second term of five years for undisclosed reasons.

He was first appointed October 21, 2015, by late former President Muhammadu Buhari, succeeding the then acting chairman, Amina Zakari. His appointment was renewed the same period in 2020 by President Buhari.

 Speaking on the topic, “Anchoring Nigeria’s Democracy on Electoral Integrity: The Imperative of an Unbiased and Transparent Electoral Umpire”, the learned silk emphasised that if Nigeria’s democracy must grow beyond its present state, Nigerians must resolve to build stronger institutions instead of the present practice of building stronger individuals.

The former federal legislator named the judiciary as one of the institutions that should be made stronger so that the people’s confidence in an impartial arbiter would be reinforced, stressing that such would thereafter enhance mass participation in the political system.

The guest speaker said it is axiomatic that “the judge’s word is the law”, hence the judiciary must be conscious of the huge responsibility imposed on it as an institution to show the right path through right judicial pronouncements.

Reviewing how INEC had fared since the beginning of this present political dispensation, West-Idahosa posited that after the tenures of the late Justice Ephraim Akpata and Ambassador Abel Guobadia as INEC Chairmen, the fortune of the electoral body started to take a voyage to the pit.

He noted that after the 1999 election conducted by Justice Akpata, only two litigations arose, and after the 2003 elections handled by the late Ambassador Guobadia, the number of litigations rose slightly above 500 because a lot of people had started showing interest in politics.

Dr. West-Idahosa lamented that thereafter, due to the collapse of the integrity of the electoral system, litigations after every round of election since after the 2007 polls had jumped to well over 1,6000 cases such that a huge burden is put on the nation’s judiciary.

He, therefore, cautioned that the judiciary must take conscious steps to show that it could be above board as the last hope of the electorate.

While canvassing for mass participation in the political system, the guest speaker said, Nigerians must be to be resolute in making the electoral reforms the most important element, being the only way the emergence of stronger individuals as against stronger institutions could be curtailed.

He regretted that rather than the world acclaimed democracy as defined ages ago, “What we have in our various states are ‘governorcracy’, which is the government of the governors by the governors and for the people.”

Dr. West-Idahosa dismissed the claim that inadequate funding had been one of the problems confronting INEC, arguing that information in the public space indicated that INEC had received far more funds than other electoral bodies in other third world countries but equally highly populated as Nigeria.

The Keynote speaker at the event, Professor Ezekiel Asemah, Vice Chancellor, Glorious Vision University, Ogwa, Edo State, urged the media to galvanise the people towards mass participation in the nation’s electoral system.

Professor Asemah lamented the worrisome level of apathy as shown by the percentage of Nigerians who register as voters and those who made it to the polling centres during elections, citing statistics that showed that about 24 percent of the population voted in the 2023 elections.

Welcoming participants to the occasion, Mr. Elvis Obaseki, the Managing Director, ITV and Radio, who was represented by Senior Elder Ogbeide Uwunmwonse, said that the annual pre-Independence lecture by the organisation was part of its contributions to the development of democracy in Nigeria.

The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Matthew Emiohe, the Itohan of Esanland, who was represented by Sunny Duke-Okosun of ITV and Radio, called on Nigerians to take steps to engage the political class on the ways to sustain and develop the democratic gains of the current dispensation.