Former Minister of Interior and National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rauf Aregbesola, has called for a radical overhaul of Nigeria’s electoral leadership selection process.
He insisted that political parties with at least five lawmakers in the National Assembly should be allowed to nominate candidates for the position of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman.
Aregbesola, who made the suggestion on Monday in Abuja at a panel session themed “Innovation in Electoral Technology 2015–2025”, argued that the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral system cannot be guaranteed unless reforms begin with how the commission’s leadership is appointed.
According to him, allowing the sitting president—who is often the “principal beneficiary” of electoral outcomes—to appoint INEC chiefs compromises the integrity of the entire process.
“We pretend as if we don’t know, but we know. They don’t inspire confidence. So we must start from there—how we appoint people who should manage this process in the first instance,” Aregbesola said.
“Let parties with at least five members in the National Assembly nominate people who will be at the helm of affairs in INEC on an equal basis. That solves the issue. A situation where the principal beneficiary of manipulation nominates who heads INEC already dictates the outcome.”
The former Osun State governor stressed that genuine democracy requires building trust in the electoral system, warning that technology alone cannot guarantee free and fair elections.
Aregbesola also demanded that INEC should publicly demonstrate how the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) work ahead of elections, noting that failure to do so only fuels suspicion.
“Don’t tell us you are using BVAS, only to change the entire thing on election day. It’s abracadabra,” he said.
“The Electoral Act compels INEC to show citizens how elections will be conducted. Transparency and consistency will prevent confusion and manipulation.”
He further questioned why Nigeria has not adopted real-time electronic result display systems already in use in democracies like India, Brazil and Venezuela.
“As people vote, the tally should be done and displayed to everyone. The paperwork should only serve as backup for political parties,” Aregbesola insisted.
The former minister also urged INEC to link its voters’ register with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database, stressing that doing so would eliminate multiple registrations and inflated figures.
“We cannot have 93 million registered voters with only 23 million voting. Linking voter registration with NIMC will solve the problem of bloated registers,” he noted.
While admitting that some of his proposals may require constitutional amendments, Aregbesola maintained that what Nigeria truly lacks is political will.
“To have a credible election and democracy, you need democrats, and democrats require trust in the process,” he added.
His intervention comes barely a week after INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, appealed to the National Assembly to expedite legal reforms necessary for the commission’s preparations ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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