EDITORIAL: Tinubu, appointment of a new INEC Chairman: History beckons

Chairman, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu,

By Okechukwu Nwanguma

Ordinarily, what should guide President Bola Tinubu in appointing a new chairman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the best interest of Nigeria – the urgent need for a credible electoral process that enjoys public confidence, ensures participation, and guarantees that the popular will of Nigerians prevails in elections.

But this is Tinubu, a man who has consistently shown that he places personal ambition, partisan interest, and political survival far above public good, national development, and the well-being of Nigerians.

Nigerians still remember how he brazenly subverted the Constitution in Rivers State, how he compromised institutions of state to secure power, and how he has turned governance into a private enterprise of cronies, loyalists, and political jobbers. Will he, this time, prove skeptics wrong? History beckons.

The Constitution requires him to consult the Council of State and to ensure a transparent, merit-driven, and competitive process that produces a credible and independent-minded INEC chairman – one loyal only to the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the Nigerian people. But will Tinubu subject himself to constitutional discipline? Or will he, true to character, handpick a pliant loyalist who will mortgage Nigeria’s democracy for his 2027 ambition?

Civil society is already raising the alarm. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has demanded full disclosure of the selection process, insisting that Nigerians have a right to know the number and names of candidates, and whether the Council of State has been consulted as required.

SERAP also urged him to correct earlier wrongs, including the appointment of known APC loyalists as Resident Electoral Commissioners – a flagrant assault on INEC’s independence.

Let’s be clear: without an independent and impartial INEC, Nigerians’ democratic rights are a cruel joke. A compromised electoral commission guarantees only one thing: fraudulent elections, manufactured outcomes, and deepening authoritarianism. An INEC chairman beholden to the president cannot deliver credible polls. Instead, such an appointment would cement Nigeria’s descent into a one-party dictatorship dressed up as democracy.

Tinubu’s legacy is on the line. The world is watching. Nigerians are watching. He can either rise above his narrow political instincts and give the country a fighting chance at credible elections – or he can further betray the nation by appointing another partisan hatchet man to preside over the electoral body.

For a president who rode into office through one of the most controversial elections in Nigeria’s history, this is a litmus test. Will Tinubu seize the opportunity to rebuild public trust in INEC, or will he again spit in the face of Nigerians by choosing loyalty over merit, and control over credibility?

The choice is his – but Nigerians must not sit idly by. Civil society, the media, labour unions, student groups, and ordinary citizens must demand transparency, resist any attempt to capture INEC, and hold Tinubu accountable. If Nigerians allow this appointment to be hijacked, then the 2027 elections are already rigged before they begin.

This is the time to rise, speak out, and organize. Democracy will not defend itself – we must defend it. If Tinubu dares to appoint a partisan loyalist as INEC chairman, Nigerians must resist with every lawful, peaceful means available. Our silence will be complicity. Our action will be the only guarantee of freedom.