• What INEC should do to ensure credible polls in 2027
By Dickson Okafor
The monarch of Ojoto in Idemili South Local Government Area, Igwe Gerald Obunadike Mbamalu, Eze Oranyelu 1, has advised the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, to be upright in the conduct and declaration of results in the 2026 Osun governorship election and the forthcoming 2027 general election.
In this interview, he also speaks on the ongoing xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa and insecurity, among other issues.
Hardship, insecurity and hunger now cover Nigerians like a garment. How does this make you feel?
Of course, I am saddened. Insecurity, persistent hunger and hardship are three realities that every Nigerian is facing. The government should fire up the engine of governance, to deliver the renewed hope it promised to Nigerians in 2023. The present situation is wholly deplorable.
When the State Police Bill becomes law, are there ways the operational modalities of the security outfit will conflict with the traditional institution?
Even the combined operation of the military, police and paramilitary services like the National Civil Defence and Safety Corps is not enough to end insecurity. However, the civil society organisations and traditional rulers welcome the move towards creation of State Police.
Given what we have seen in the Ekiti State off-cycle governorship election, do you think that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will restore the trust of the Nigerian electorate in the ballot box?
It is left for the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Ojo Amupitan Joash, to be upright by allowing eligible voters to decide those to be elected as President, governors and legislators in the forthcoming by-elections and the 2027 General Election. What the INEC chairman does will make or mar Nigeria. Being transparent is the only way Prof. Amupitan can prove to Nigerians that INEC is indeed independent and transparent with the conduct and declaration of results. Because in some cases, the BVAS will credit and transmit the results to the realtime viewing portal, IRev, but some will go and others will not from the same place.
What is your assessment of the reforms of the Bola Tinubu administration which many believe have created more hardship?
Nigeria’s economic challenge cannot be solved like rocket science and any leader that will take us out of it must pass through what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is going through. There are no two ways about it because these problems have piled up for a long time and Tinubu inherited part of it. But the truth is that we will find it difficult to separate real insecurity and the one caused by politicians as we approach next year’s general election. So, this is a true fact. Before 2027 general election security wasn’t that bad until the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released its election timetable; insecurity got worse. Until we are able to separate the real insecurity from the one orchestrated by the 2027 election there will be no headway towards ending insecurity.
With abductions going on in the country, is it not time state governors started using their security votes to equip forest guards with automatic rifles?
Are the governors completely free or independent of the federal government? Are they free to control the police and other security agencies in the state? Anyway, the governors cannot invest their security votes to equip forest guards because they need the money for re-election.
Nigerians have been facing xenophobic attacks in South Africa. It has been claimed that their loud lifestyle stirs up envy. Is it not time for Nigerians in the Diaspora to stop flaunting their success in the face of citizens of the host countries?
Have Nigerians stopped living high profile lifestyles in Nigeria? How can you stop it in foreign land when you have not stopped it in your country? My only pain is that we have hardworking and credible Nigerians overseas doing legitimate jobs and businesses, but are affected by the conduct of the bad ones. These bad ones display their ill-gotten wealth on the social media to make some people know that they have arrived. So, we can’t stop it because any country that gives Nigeria a bad name, the Nigerians in that country are the cause. When the good ones are doing legitimate business, the bad ones will spoil it by cutting corners and doing illicit businesses and it will turn against genuine Nigerians. For instance, a referee from Somalia was turned down by the USA and the man did not do anything wrong, but because of the attitude of Somalians in America, because when one finger touches oil it will affect the other fingers. Notwithstanding, it is unfair for the frustrations of the majority Black people to find violent expression in the killing of fellow Africans of foreign nationality, especially Nigerians and the destruction of their property. Even though Nigerians were particularly accused of the crime of drug trafficking and running prostitution rings, it is wrong to single Nigerians out of fellow Africans of foreign nationality as the only people engaged in such illicit businesses. Yes, Black home, reactions to the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa have been more emotional than pragmatic as the general public in Nigeria is lamenting the ill-treatment meted out to their compatriots by fellow Black Africans in South Africa. Notwithstanding, having realised that Nigeria should have put its economic interest ahead of African solidarity in the same way Anwar Sadaat of Egypt and the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia put the national economic and security interests of their respective nations first ahead of Arab/Muslim solidarity. If Nigeria had sustained the economic prosperity of the mid-70s onwards to the present time, the Black populace would have respected us more because we would not have become economic refugees in their country and hence would not have unleashed xenophobic attacks on us as there are only two races in the world; rich and poor. Nigeria adopted Africa as the centrepiece of her foreign policy at Independence in 1960, during the government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in the First Republic. Balewa strongly believed that Nigeria belonged to Africa and should therefore give priority to African affairs in its external relations. His administration pursued policies aimed at promoting African unity, decolonisation and peaceful coexistence among African states. Also, in 1976, the Murtala Muhammad/Olusegun Obasanjo regime formally declared Africa as the “Centrepiece” of Nigeria’s foreign policy. This doctrine shows Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements for decades and established the country as a major force in African politics and peacekeeping. However, over the years, Nigeria committed enormous resources towards the liberation and stability of African countries. The country supported anti-apartheid struggles in Southern Africa, funded peacekeeping operations, provided financial assistance to struggling African states and sent security personnel and professionals across the continent to maintain peace and order. Sincerely, Nigeria proudly assumed the role of the “Big Brother” of Africa, often placing continental interests above narrow national gains. However, recent realities have forced many Nigerians to question whether this foreign policy direction still serves the national interest. Nigerians living in different parts of the world, including African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon and Kenya, increasingly face discrimination, harassment and hostility. Therefore, many have complained of unfair treatment despite Nigeria’s longstanding contributions to African development and unity.
Nigeria is rapidly losing generations of experienced artisans with technical skills in building, auto-repair, welding, carpentry, plumbing, tiling, etc. What can be done to reverse the trend and avoid skilled workers from ECOWAS flooding the country to take up low-skilled jobs Nigerians do want to do?
When I left secondary school as a school certificate holder, there was room for auxiliary teaching. The state government employed us to teach in the secondary schools as auxiliary teachers. Then we were paid N145 and with that N145 you could rent an apartment, furnish your apartment and feed yourself. Today, such programmes are no longer in existence in Nigeria. In those days when we were on holiday from the universities, we organised secondary school students and taught them extra-mural classes. It kept youths together and away from crime and other social vices, but that is no more. So, it is the same high profile lifestyle that is causing it. For instance, you are in a place learning a trade and your classmate comes back with exotic cars with police escort and when you ask him what kind of business or job he does, he may lie to you that he is into buying and selling. That apprentice will never concentrate because his mind is already out of the trade he is learning. In schools, especially in universities, lecturers hardly pay their rents, they can’t take care of their children and can’t pay their children’s school fees and they can’t meet their family responsibility and you say you are a lecturer. What do you expect them to do? That is why some of them decide to compromise, collect money from students and award them marks whether they merited it or not. They will pass them and collect that money to go and solve their financial problems. And these half-baked graduates will be out, how do you expect them to function accurately in their discipline? Because of these challenges, people are now using universities as a money-making machine. Some of these private universities and state-owned universities don’t have university accreditations to compete in the labour market. Some who acquired law degrees are directed to go and do law examinations. People that have graduated for five or six years, but they have not been called to the bar. You cannot practise as a lawyer if you are not called to the bar. A student that left university five or six years ago waiting to be called to the bar and he or she has not been called to the bar, what do you think they will be doing?
The new Electoral Act 2026 threw up surprises during the direct primaries of political parties as virtually all the aspirants that contested their party tickets are complaining that the exercise was manipulated. Isn’t that a sign that people’s votes may not count in 2027?
Members of the 10th National Assembly that approved the Electoral Act 2026, especially the incumbent Senators and those in the Green Chamber are facing ultimate survival tests with what happened during the party primaries. Many lost their return tickets. Direct primaries means open voting by queuing behind the aspirant you support. Where INEC will conduct elections in all wards, but in the case of the just concluded primaries they will send one person to the village to do exactly what the party leaders have agreed. They will send the person with a camera to video that this political party actually did direct primaries for Nigerians to see. Did you see any of the political parties publish the results of the primaries apart from someone carrying a picture being queued behind and the camera will zoom it from front and the back? That is all. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the presidential primary of APC with 10.99 million votes. The question is, how many people voted for him when he won the presidency in the whole of Nigeria? If APC won presidential primaries with such a large number of votes, how many people voted and what magic did he use to win? Where are all these million, million votes coming from? If truly APC has 10.99 million voters, they have won the election. But my warning to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is that they must not compromise and allow Nigeria to disintegrate in 2027. It cuts across all the political parties, but I’m using President Tinubu and APC as an example because what happened in the ruling party’s primaries also took place in all the political parties. What is wrong with electronic voting? You open your phone, you do transactions straight, you collect or transfer money and you collect your ATM card. What is wrong with transmission of election results? The person that copied President Tinubu’s voice was captured and arrested, how did it happen? The ones who insist that electronic voting will not take place are the ones sabotaging it. If politicians are sincere it will work because we have NIN and BVN. Once you vote it will count and you will verify.
Do you see power changing hands in 2027?
Irrespective of the political party you belong to, if you are not anointed you are wasting your time. In 2027 no matter the kind of amount of money you have or how popular you are, if you are not chosen by the powers that be, you won’t have any headway.
But that is not democracy?
That is the Nigerian system of democracy, the ruling class system and it didn’t start today.
What should INEC do for Nigeria to have a transparent, free and fair election in 2027?
I have a new shock absorber for the new government and the new hardship that will come because if the ongoing hardship is not taken care of now, it will continue to multiply. Have you seen a situation whereby there was hardship and another government took over and it was lesser? It is always increasing. From 1999 till date the hardship keeps increasing. It is only in this administration that they are trying to curb hardship through the ongoing reforms. The state governors who promised to improve the living standard of Nigerians in 2023, what have they done with the increment of their monthly allocation by President Tinubu? Why are we blaming only President Tinubu for the economic hardship? If every state has taken care of their state, nobody will talk about Tinubu. The governors who are given money, why can’t they use it to develop their states? Will Tinubu answer everything? What about the states? The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total sum of N2.3 trillion to the federal, states, and local government councils for the month of May 2026 released by the Office of the Accountant-General of Federation (OAGF) as contained in a statement issued few days ago. So, that is why I said it is a complex situation. Before the new Electoral Act 2026, during party primaries they will stay in Eagle Square for a day or two counting the votes cast, but this time it is by voice vote and everybody and parties are running to beat INEC deadline. I believe that miracle will happen in Nigeria one day and a messiah will come. Like I said earlier, my prayer is let there be peace, let Nigeria not disintegrate and let the 2027 general election come and go and let the peaceful coexistence continue.
(The Sun)