Obasanjo Pushes for Electoral Reform, Knocks INEC Ahead of 2027 Election

Obasanjo has pushed for electoral reform ahead of the 2027 election.

Newsone Nigeria reports that the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has emphasized the urgent need to reform and strengthen the nation’s electoral process.

This online news platform understands that the former President specifically called for the dismissal of Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and commission officials at all levels for electoral integrity.

Obasanjo made this call via a recorded video address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, saying the electoral system reform is now among the top targets for change in Nigeria.

The erstwhile President stressed that Nigerians must ensure that the INEC chairman and his staff were thoroughly vetted, adding that the vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan, actors with impeccable reputations.

“As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should yield 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 re-establish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens.

“The INEC chairperson must not only be absolutely above board, he must also be transparently independent and incorruptible,” he said.

Former President Obasanjo pointed out that INEC failed to implement the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal during the 2023.

“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 hen house,” Obasanjo stated.

Newsone reports that the Presidency took issue with Obasanjo’s critique of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.

In a statement, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused him of hypocrisy given his administration’s alleged role in organising what it described as the “most fraudulent election held in Nigeria since 1960.”

“It is hypocrisy writ large when a man who presided over the worst election in Nigeria demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” Onanuga wrote