Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will undergo a major leadership transition in less than 60 days, just 15 months before the 2027 general election. The current Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, will end his two-term tenure of 10 years in the first week of December 2025. No chairman has served two terms since the establishment of the commission. Following the chairman’s exit, five national commissioners will end their tenure in 2026, with another five exiting the commission on the eve of the 2027 elections.
In democracies with weak institutions, non-adherence to the rule of law, and zero-sum politics, leadership transitions in the electoral commission are exploited as moments of institutional capture by political elites, especially incumbents, in their quest to consolidate control over the political process. As Yiaga Africa highlighted in its 2025 State of Electoral Integrity Report, the 2027 elections could be the most compromised and expensive elections in recent history. This projection stems from the trend of highly politicised appointments to INEC. Since 2015, all appointments to INEC have been marred by controversies due to the appointment of partisan individuals to the commission. A striking episode was in 2022, when the late President Buhari nominated his media aide and well-known partisan campaigner as a national commissioner. Civil society groups, including Yiaga Africa, the International Press Centre, the Centre for Media and Society, the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, etc., strongly opposed the nomination through signed petitions and mounted vigorous campaigns. In a twist, the Senate rejected her nomination, citing federal character considerations.
More recently, a troubling trend of appointing individuals with limited or no experience in elections has emerged. Cronies and relatives of ministers and governors are being appointed to the commission, while competent and experienced individuals are ignored. This pattern has continued under the Tinubu administration despite public knowledge of the political involvement of some of his nominees and their close ties to governors and partisan political elites. While there is also a growing trend of appointing former INEC staff, especially directors, as commissioners, concerns linger about whether these appointments are merit-based or a reward for political loyalty.
As Prof. Mahmood’s era gradually winds down, it is worth noting that his tenure introduced several reforms to the electoral process. While some of the reforms haven’t delivered expected outcomes, particularly in restoring public confidence in the electoral process, some of the innovations represent significant progress and should be sustained. For example, local production of ballot papers and results sheets, creation of additional polling units, regularisation of election dates, digitisation of candidate nomination, media and observation accreditation, online pre-registration portal, deployment of the BVAS and IReV.
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The opportunities ahead
The leadership transition in INEC presents three opportunities. First, it offers an opportunity to rebuild public confidence in the electoral process, eroded by electoral fraud, political interference with INEC, judicial misconduct, and electoral impunity. Second, the transition is an opportunity to strengthen INEC’s independence. For too long, the commission has suffered from partisan appointments, funding delays, and sabotage by other actors in the electoral governance architecture. Nigerians are clamouring for an independent INEC with the courage to stand up to a political class that sees elections as a do-or-die affair. Thirdly, the transition allows political elites to demonstrate statesmanship by building bipartisan consensus around constituting an independent, transparent, competent, inclusive, and accountable INEC.
What must be done
To seize these opportunities, these three actions are necessary:
The criteria of “non-partisanship” and “unquestionable integrity” prescribed in the constitution for the appointment to INEC have proven inadequate, given recent experiences and complexities of election administration. Therefore, the criteria should be revised to ensure nominees have had no affiliation with any political party, whether past or present. Individuals with the courage and ability to withstand political interference are critical to inspiring public trust in the commission.
President Tinubu should act as a statesman by leveraging his executive powers to adopt a slightly different approach before forwarding nominations to the Senate for confirmation. For instance, the President can publish the names of prospective nominees and invite the public and stakeholders, such as civil society organisations and professional bodies, to submit inputs or objections.
The Nigerian Senate should strengthen the confirmation process by disclosing the names and qualifications of nominees and inviting memos and petitions from citizens, CSOs, etc.
The transition in the leadership of Nigeria’s electoral commission should not be treated with levity or driven by partisan considerations. It is more than an administrative change in an institution. It is a sacred task with huge implications for political legitimacy and democratic progress. The choice before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the 10th Nigerian Senate is clear: capture INEC for partisan gain or safeguard it for the consolidation of Nigeria’s democracy.
Samson Itodo is an election, democracy, and public policy enthusiast. Itodo serves as the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and Principal Partner of the Election Law Centre.
