Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has said he doubts the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by its Chairman, Joash Amupitan, to conduct credible elections, describing the commission’s performance in the FCT Area Council elections as a failure.
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Odinkalu, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, took a swipe at Amupitan, specifically saying he could not be trusted to organise free and fair elections in 2027.
“INEC failed. Amupitan’s INEC failed woefully. On this evidence, nobody can trust Joash Amupitan to organise credible elections in 2027,” Odinkalu stated.
“There’s nothing else to it; it is not about the law. It is about the failure of will, the failure of electoral administration,” he added.
He charged electoral administrators to conduct their homework or resign their positions for others to do the task.
“The election administrators have got to do their homework, and if they are not willing to do their homework, they should get the hell out,” Odinkalu said.
The human rights lawyer outlined specific failures by INEC during the FCT elections.
“Electoral logistics were poor. The management of electoral rules were poor. You reassigned people to different electoral units, polling units, with few hours to elections. No education, no investment in voter education or information management, nothing.
“The violence was unacceptable. Results manifestly were changed in different places. Collation glitched on the day. This is in a small election in the Federal Capital Territory. This is disgraceful. Joash failed,” Odinkalu stated.
When asked whether it was too early to judge Amupitan since his appointment late last year, Odinkalu said the new INEC boss had previously conducted a governorship election in Anambra State.
He noted that it was troubling that such lapses occurred in what he described as a relatively small election in the FCT, warning that the issues raised concerns about the commission’s preparedness for future polls.
Odinkalu challenged the electoral body to admit to the challenges and apologise to Nigerians for some shortcomings.
“Amupitan can tell Nigerians that ‘I take personal responsibility, this is a chastening experience. I am learning, some of these things I saw cannot happen on my watch.’
“But to simply pretend as if these things did not happen and say this is the standard to which elections are organised will be irresponsible,” he stated.
Odinkalu further noted that Nigerians are not asking for perfection but evidence of commitment to improvements by the electoral body.
“A chairperson of INEC who is committed to credible elections would admit that there are failures that should never have happened on the watch of a credible electoral administrator and will say, ‘We will do something about it, enlist citizens who have no partisan commitments to see how we address these issues,'” he added.
Odinkalu did not spare the opposition parties, describing them as ineffective, disorganised, and “an utter disgrace.”
He specifically stated that, in his view, there is presently no credible opposition in Nigeria.
“I think the opposition forces, the ADC, whoever else; I don’t even know which PDP there is now, if there is any, because Nyesom Wike is APC faction of PDP, it seems to me.
“But the so-called opposition forces, in my view, are an utter disgrace. And I say that with no apologies to anybody,” Odinkalu declared.
Odinkalu specifically referenced the public holiday declared by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike on the eve of the election, arguing that opposition parties missed an opportunity to mobilise supporters in response.
“Nyesom Wike wakes up on Thursday night after people have started retiring to declare a public holiday. If I were a member of a political party, and I were a leader of a political party, I would call a rally on Friday. That was a fantastic opportunity for opposition leadership to prove itself.
“If you had political troops on the ground, call a rally on that Friday to dare him and use that to mobilise. What did they do? They were indoors, sleeping.
“It’s difficult to speak to the ineptitude of political opposition in Nigeria. They are not serious. And I think anybody who looks at the system has got to say that, at the moment, there is absolutely no opposition,” he stated.
Odinkalu expressed confusion about why the ruling party still felt the need to manipulate elections despite the weakness of the opposition.
“What I do not understand, however, in the face of that, is why the ruling party still feels the need to manufacture the kinds of things it does, from violence to rewriting results to putting one where it should not be, turning hundreds into thousands. I do not understand why they feel the need to do that, because there is actually no opposition group,” he concluded.
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