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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is, in the consideration of many Nigerians and political analysts, one democratic institution that went through the crucibles of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the year 2025.
INEC actually had a very busy schedule of activities in the year 2025 in terms of the volumes of elections it conducted, particularly the two off-cycle governorship polls held in Edo and Anambra states, and its active involvement in the build-up to similar forthcoming polls in Ekiti and Osun states, scheduled for next year, 2026.
The commission also successfully conducted over 15 legislative by-elections involving the two chambers of the National Assembly. This is in addition to its other statutory responsibilities which made 2025 electoral calendar year a very busy one for it.
More importantly, 2025 is a year the commission experienced a major change of guard at the top echelon of its leadership following the exit of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the erstwhile chairman who bowed out after completing his two tenures, and the immediate appointment of his replacement, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, as the chairman of the commission.
Curiously, 2025 will go down in history as the year the commission failed to resolve the perceptions many persons hold about it after failing to convince doubters on its readiness to conduct unbiased, credibly acceptable polls.
INEC, according to many observers, has continued with the impression of a good umpire in the eyes of those perceived to be favoured by its deliverables in the conduct of elections in 2025, a never-do-well and killjoy institution to those that felt short-changed in the elections held this year.
In reality, its presumed failure to impress the general public to change the previous perception held about it has resulted in the commission coming under serious scrutiny, with agitations growing over concerns and calls for electoral reforms in the year 2025.
Certain disturbing issues such as perfecting the use of electronic transmission of results targeted at curtailing and or entirely stopping widespread ugly trend of manipulation of election results, especially at the collation centres, prosecution of electoral offenders, voter suppression, and election credibility have dominated political debates in the 2025 election year.
The discussions and debates about lack of electoral reforms were informed by the desire to have the eforms in place ahead of the 2027 elections.
In almost all the national elections it conducted in the year 2025 across the country, in exercise of its regulatory authorities and powers, the electoral umpire, according to some analysts, recorded both impressive and unimpressive scores.
One area of unimpressive record is probably in its weak intervention and management of the leadership crisis bedevilling the political parties, specifically in the legal recognition of the right leadership among the factions seeking authentication, despite court judgments.
Although it has received commendable remarks and encomiums in the aspect of the huge success in the Continuous Voter Registration (CRV) exercise, however, it did not replicate the same achievement in the process leading to the implementation of its other statutory responsibilities, particularly in the proposed registration of new associations into political parties.
Definitely, opinions will also be sharply divided among members of the ruling and opposition political parties in appraising the performances of the commission in the conduct of the off-cycle governorship and by-elections in the year under review.
Interestingly, what nobody can however hold against the commission is the promptness and dexterity in the release of the timetable and schedule of activities for the elections it conducted in 2025, the timely update of the voters’ registration and the religious execution of the schedule of activities for the build-up to all the major elections.
Such meticulous prosecution of the activities comes in the form of wielding the big sticks in ensuring strict execution and implementation of its timetable for all the major elections, including monitoring the legal compliance of the parties to the conduct of the primary elections for the nomination of the party’s valid candidates.
The commission, also in the perception of many keen observers, may have performed commendably well in the deployment of sensitivity and none sensitive materials during the conduct of most elections in the year 2025, but it however, scored a very low mark in the deployment and effective use of accreditation materials such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal to authenticate the results.
While the non-functionality of some of the BVAS deployed in almost all elections conducted in 2025 continued, the controversy and unending debate over the legality of the use of IReV to enhance the electronic transmission of election results has equally remained an issue of serious concern.
These critical issues surrounding the technology targeted at improving the efficiency in the conduct of elections have resulted in heightening more doubts over the general creditability and acceptability of the outcome of elections the commission conducted in the year under consideration.
Daily Sun can report that the failure has been responsible for the alleged cases of manipulations of the outcome of election results, particularly at the collation centre stage.
Again, the helplessness of the commission to take total charge has made the conduct of election in 2025 to fall below the expectations of many. And, more importantly, the inability of the commission to curtail the menace of widespread vote buying at the polling units, the critical stage of the process of conduct of the poll, in almost all the elections it conducted in 2025, has equally put a question mark to its achievements.
For instance, in the conduct of almost all the off-cycle governorship elections, there were several reported instances the commission looked so helpless in stopping obvious cases of vote buying by the various political parties and their agents.
In reality, the rating of the electoral commission in discharging its statutory responsibilities in the year 2025 could rightly be described as a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
For the assessors, its performance was so unsatisfactory that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) expressed profound concerns and anxieties over INEC’s continued abysmal and unimpressive outings, lamenting that it has plunged public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process to an all-time low.
In the perception of the coalition’s Secretary, Chief Peter Ameh, “For years, INEC has failed to deliver on its constitutional mandate to conduct free, fair, and credible elections. The controversies surrounding the 2023 general elections, marked by logistical failures, result manipulation allegations, and record-low voter turnout, set a dangerous precedent.
“In year 2025, even under a new leadership, the challenges have persisted. The Anambra governorship election actually highlighted ongoing issues of low participation and distrust, while broader concerns about institutional independence and transparency remain unaddressed.
“This systemic failure has deepened voter apathy and citizen disillusionment, eroding the foundations of our democracy. Nigerians are increasingly disengaged, viewing elections as futile exercises rather than genuine expressions of the people’s will in the elections it conducted in 2025,” the Coalition’s Chief Scribe noted in a chat with the Daily Sun.
CUPP also use the opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government, National Assembly, and the commission; “to urgently implement the far-reaching reforms, including the unbundling of the commission’s functions, ensuring genuine independence in appointments, and focusing on result management.
“We demand responsibility for past lapses and concrete steps to restore public trust ahead of the 2027 elections. The future of Nigeria’s democracy depends on a credible electoral umpire. INEC must rise to the occasion, or risk further alienating the electorate,” he charged.
As Nigerians prepare for the 2026 election calendar year, many stakeholders have started highlighting the daunting challenges before the electoral commission.
In the words of the chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, the situation required continuous sanitisation of the nation’s democratic system to meet the yearnings of citizens who desire and deserve dividends of constitutional rule, not rhetoric.
According to him; “Nigerians expect credible, transparent and inclusive elections where every vote is counted and counts in the overall result. The performances of the commission in the 2025 election year will set the stage for the forthcoming elections in 2026, including the FCT Area Council polls, Osun and Ekiti states governorship elections and the decisive 2027 general election.
“INEC should put its acts together and get it right. With new leadership, citizens’ expectations are high, very high. The commission should justify the confidence the nation reposed in it. This is the only way to rebuild trust in the electoral process and encourage mass participation in future polls.
“After 26 years of unbroken democracy we should get it right. The ongoing Constitution and Electoral Act amendments provide yet another opportunity to advance our democracy. IPAC has been engaging the National Assembly and critical stakeholders on the review of the legal frameworks for sustainable democracy and development.
“The Council has further submitted its proposals, requesting the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and vesting the responsibility of conducting all local governments elections on INEC, restoration of funding for political parties to provide a level playing field for all political parties, and establishment of Electoral Offences Commission to try electoral offenders.
“We also requested the removal of the power to appoint the INEC Chairman, Secretary, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners from the executive to ensure the independence of the commission from political influence. Council has urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the reforms as time is of the essence,” he appealed.
Another challenge that requires urgent attention and intervention of relevant stakeholders in the 2026 electoral year is in the area of violation of electoral rules, especially the early commencement of campaigns by the political actors.
And, in highlighting areas of concerns, the Chairman, Board of the Electoral Institute (BEI), Prof Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, noted that; “Nigeria’s democracy is still in transition, and like every evolving system, faces serious challenges.
“One of the most worrying is the increasing resort to early campaigns by political actors and their surrogates in many forms. We have seen aspirants use cultural festivals and religious gatherings to drop hints about their ambitions, often disguised as appreciation or philanthropy.
“Billboards and branded vehicles sometimes appear with cleverly crafted slogans that stop just short of open solicitation but leave little doubt about the intent. More recently, social media influencers and content creators have become key players and fronts, flooding platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube, and X with songs, skits, and hashtags that project particular aspirants many months before the permission of the law,” he enumerated.
With the new leadership, there have been heightened expectations on what the new electoral umpire boss, Prof Amupitan, is capable of doing to turn around the declining fortune of the commission, specifically in the conduct of credible, free, fair and transparent elections in 2026 off-cycle elections, by-elections, and the FCT Area Council elections before the major 2027 general polls.
