By Owei Lakemfa
When doctors recommend 16 major surgeries and 21 minor ones for a patient, no divination is needed to tell you the patient is in a grave situation. This is the situation with the Nigerian electoral process where teams of civil society associations have recommended 21 constitutional and 16 Electoral Act amendments.
These were presented on September 23, 2025 in Abuja at a Roundtable with key Media Stakeholders. But despite the large number of proposed amendments, questions linger: Are these adequate; do they address the fundamental issues; and would they rescue the Nigerian democracy project?
We can start from the fact that Nigerian democracy is sick. Midwifed by impostors from the barracks, it has stunted growth, and suffers debilitating sicknesses, especially bad governance and increasing electoral fraud. Politics itself is being transformed into a criminal enterprise in which voters, suspected of being supporters of opposing candidates, are beaten and prevented from casting their ballots, and results written sometimes before elections.
Electoral officers, sometimes, announce different electoral results for the same election. Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakassai of Bayero University, Kano, in 2023, announced two different results for the Tundun Wada/Doguwa, Kano House of Representatives elections. He claimed he had to do so because his life and those of his electoral staff were threatened.
Professor Ibeabuchi Izuchukwu Innocent of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, before declaring the Orlu Senatorial election results in 2019, said he was doing so under duress as he had been abducted and detained for days by thugs. Despite this, the fraudulent election results he announced were upheld.
These are indications that democracy is endangered and needs urgent surgical procedures to keep it alive.
At this media forum, Mr Lanre Arogundade, the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, IPC, a co-organiser of the Roundtable, said it is imperative to ensure that the electoral commission is impartial, and greater inclusivity is ensured by the introduction of diaspora and early voting which will ensure those on electoral duties like journalists and security agents, also cast their votes. He said over 11,000 journalists engaged in covering the last elections had been disenfranchised. The proposed reforms, he added, would lead to citizens renewed trust in the electoral system which had been badly shaken in the 2023 elections.
Cynthia Mbamalu, Director of Programmes for YIAGA Africa, the co-convener of the Roundtable, said the reason a lot of attention should be given to elections is because it is the primary interaction with the concept of democracy; it is where the electorate exercises its freedom of choice on who governs at any level. She added that if elections do not work or are not credible, trust is lost in the democratic process.
Dr Akin Akingbulu, Excutive Director, Centre for Media and Society, CEMESO, said the Citizens Memorandum on Electoral Reforms is a landmark document that seeks to close the gaps within the electoral system.
Some of the constitutional amendments proposed are the introduction of a multi-stakeholder approach to the appointment or removal of the INEC Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners rather than the President making such appointments. Another amendment seeks the professionalisation of the electoral chiefs which will ensure they have multiple skills.
The groups also want INEC unbundled such that separate agencies will handle the registration and regulation of political parties and electoral offences. They also want the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission with the mandate to coordinate, enforce and prosecute all electoral offences. This unbundling, in my view, may merely lead to the multiplication of bureaucracies.
The proposals also include the holding of elections not earlier than 240 days rather than the current 150 days, and for all pre-election matters to be concluded before the date fixed for an election.
Also suggested is the introduction of diaspora and out-of-country voting, and the creation of special seats for women in the legislature.
The issue of special seats for women is good, but I will prefer extending it to special seats for representatives of professional and mass organisations like those of lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountant, labour and market people associations. These bodies have the unique ability to control their representatives, discipline or recall them if necessary.
The electoral amendments suggested include legally-sanctioned independent audit of the voter register, early voting, and for all communication on elections to be available in mode, means and format easily accessible to persons with disabilities, compulsory electronic transmission of results and protection of journalists on election day.
I am not sure some of these amendments are necessary or go far enough. For instance, the leaders of the electoral commission at whatever level are likely to be loyal to the appointing authorities. Therefore, appealing to their sense of judgement may be mere moralising. For a level playing field, the political parties need be pruned and every eligible party should appoint its own representative into the electoral commission. Members of the commission so composed, will then elect their officers for positions as Chairperson, Deputy Chair and Secretary. Another alternative is for political parties with five-ten members in the National Assembly to have automatic representation in the INEC while the same number at the state level should qualify a party to be represented in the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC.
Equally, rather than register voters, issue temporary or permanent voters card, and update voters register, the National Identification Number, NIN, which is the recognised identity card for every Nigerian citizen, should be used. The NIN contains the basic information necessary for elections, including age and those in the BVAS machines. Since the NIN exists in electronic form, what is necessary is for the voter to thumb print after accreditation. With this, multiple voting will be near impossible. If the vote is electronic, there would be no need for printing voters card and moving so-called sensitive and non-sensitive election materials.
Also, technology has advanced to the level of automation such that a vote cast can be automatically reflected on electoral and party platforms. So there will be no need for vote collation centres, and, needless for Returning Officers to travel to any collation centre, including Abuja. Therefore, the so-called Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System or even the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV, would be irrelevant. This is because the party polling agents will also have the result of each polling booth, which, by the way, is the only election result possible. This seamless system requires that the party agents should be fully part of the electoral process, including accreditation and supervision.
Admittedly, electoral reforms, and even elections in themselves, do not make a democracy, but they are vital to the process. In our case, they are so urgent that unless we move speedily, we might endanger the whole democratic process. So, help us God.
