In a pre-recorded address titled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria” that was played at the event, Obasanjo criticized the 2023 general election, labeling it a “travesty.”
“As a matter of urgency, we must ensure the INEC Chairperson and their staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should produce dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations.
“Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government, and municipal – city, town, and village – levels, with short tenures to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption, and to re-establish trust in the electoral system by its citizens,” he said.
He argued that “The INEC Chairperson must not only be absolutely above board but must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.”
Mr. Obasanjo stated that the commission deliberately neglected to use two key technological tools available to it—the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV)—during the 2023 presidential election, despite assurances from Mr. Yakubu.
“The BVAS and IReV are two technological innovations that, prior to 2023, were celebrated for their potential to enhance the accuracy and transparency of our election results, eliminate the threat of election rigging, and boost public trust in electoral outcomes.
“These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. INEC wilfully failed to use or implement them, which resulted in widespread voting irregularities. It was a case of inviting the fox into the henhouse,” he said.
INEC has faced significant criticism following the last general elections, particularly over the failure of its IReV platform during the presidential polls, which the commission attributed to a technical glitch.
The IReV platform became central to post-election litigation, though these cases were ultimately dismissed by both the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the Supreme Court.
A special report by a new organisation in Nigeria revealed that Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, won the election in Rivers State based on IReV data. However, INEC declared President Bola Tinubu the winner in the state.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a supporter of Mr. Obi during the election, criticized the collation of results, calling for the cancellation of outcomes that failed to meet the “credibility and transparency test.”
His appeal to the then-president to halt the collation process drew widespread criticism.
INEC has also been under fire for its handling of the Edo State off-cycle governorship election and for appointing individuals with partisan affiliations to key leadership roles. PREMIUM TIMES has previously reported on instances of partisan appointees being named as Resident Electoral Commissioners.
In the most recent appointments by President Tinubu, four nominees were linked to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
While Mr. Obasanjo has advocated strongly for electoral reform, his own record on election integrity during his presidency remains questionable.
The 2003 and 2007 elections conducted under his administration were widely condemned by both local and international observers as among the worst in Nigeria’s history.
The winner of the 2007 presidential election, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, admitted the flaws in the process and initiated electoral reforms, though he passed away in 2010 before completing them. His successor, Goodluck Jonathan, continued these reforms.
INEC’s current chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and reappointed in 2020. His tenure is set to expire next year.