AS the tenure of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) draws to a close, public attention is shifting not only to his legacy, but also on renewed calls on the mode of appointment of the leadership of the electoral body. Yakubu, who steps down in November after a decade at the helm, is leaving behind a commission transformed by technology, institutional reforms, and expanded voter access. Yet his tenure has also been dogged by controversies especially during the 2023 general election. Indeed, some stakeholders are questioning whether the credibility of future elections can be guaranteed without restructuring how the INEC chairman and commissioners are appointed. Even so, potential candidates nominated to succeed Yakubu as chairman of INEC are reportedly being interviewed and vetted ahead of President Tinubu’s consultations with the Council of State. ‘The President will soon convene a Council of State meeting where he will present the names to the council. It is a constitutional requirement,’ argues a source. There are speculations that President Tinubu will likely nominate Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and constitutional law scholar, as the next INEC Chairman. Amupitan, a professor of law at the University of Jos, is known for his expertise in constitutional jurisprudence, human rights, and democratic governance.
However, civil society groups and election monitors insist that presidential appointments compromise the independence of the commission. At a roundtable in Abuja last week, Yiaga Africa, The Kukah Centre, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), the International Press Centre (IPC), and 12 other organisations unveiled a Citizens Memorandum for Reform of the Electoral Legal Framework. The document recommends amending Sections 154 and 158 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Part F of the Third Schedule, to introduce a multi-stakeholder approach to the appointment of INEC leadership. ‘The scope of consultations should expand beyond the Council of State to other critical stakeholders like traditional and religious institutions, including civil society,’ the groups said in a joint statement. The memorandum outlines 37 recommendations across 15 strategic objectives. Of these, 21 require constitutional amendments, while 16 relate to the Electoral Act 2022.
According to Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, ‘Elections are only as credible as the institutions that manage them. If the president continues to wield the power to appoint, it undermines the neutrality of INEC in the eyes of the public.’ Despite these concerns, analysts acknowledge that Yakubu has advanced electoral management in Nigeria. Under his watch, INEC rolled out the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for biometric voter authentication and introduced the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), which allowed polling unit results to be uploaded in real time. ‘The IReV is Prof. Yakubu’s brainchild. It was designed to digitise Form EC60E that was often destroyed at polling units,’ said Austin Aigbe, Regional Advocacy Officer at the West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network. ‘Unfortunately, technical glitches during the 2023 elections eroded the credibility of an otherwise progressive innovation.’ Yakubu championed Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), which added over 12 million new voters-mostly young people-to the register, raising the total to a record 93 million. INEC expanded polling units by more than 56,000, easing congestion in urban and rural areas alike.
‘INEC under Yakubu made genuine attempts to broaden participation of marginalised groups,’ Aigbe added. ‘But perception issues overshadowed many of these gains.’ Another milestone was Yakubu’s role in pushing for the passage of the Electoral Act 2022. The law authorised the use of technology in elections, extended timelines for candidate nominations, and empowered INEC to review results declared under duress within seven days. That amendment was inspired by the 2019 Imo North senatorial election,’ Aigbe explained. ‘For the first time, INEC had the power to intervene in cases of coercion before the courts got involved.’But as Yakubu bows out, opinions still remain divided. Some analysts point to his institutional reforms and technological innovations as a foundation for future progress, while critics highlight persistent logistical lapses, technical failures, and some mistrust in election outcomes. ‘Yakubu moved the commission forward in many ways,’ said a constitutional lawyer, Chidi Odinkalu. ‘But what good are reforms if the public no longer believes in the results?’ For reform advocates, the debate over Yakubu’s legacy has sharpened the urgency of insulating INEC from political control. ‘The real issue is not just who chairs INEC after Yakubu,’ Itodo stressed, ‘but how that person is appointed. Without that reform, Nigerians will continue to question the integrity of our elections.’ As Nigeria prepares for another electoral cycle, the story of INEC remains one of promise and paradox.
Yakubu’s era delivered important reforms, but also exposed the limits of technology in the absence of political will and institutional trust. The incoming INEC Chairman now has the task of consolidating those gains while navigating the legitimacy crisis that has dogged the commission.