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The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has always promised to deliver the best election in the history of this country. He has never left anyone in doubt that he would conduct an election where the loser will congratulate the winner. In other words, there will be no need of going to court to settle election grievances or to recover stolen mandate. We are yet to see this come to fruition if the recent council election in Abuja and by-elections in Kano and Port Harcourt are anything to go by. I do not think that losers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council elections have congratulated the winners. No such response has come from either Kano or Rivers State.
While Amupitan has not conducted a major election as the new INEC boss, there is no doubt that the 2027 general election will be his litmus test. How he goes about that poll will determine if the losers will happily congratulate the winners or not. Nigeria is a country where losers hardly admit their loss and congratulate the winner. The only classical exception to this absurdity remains ex-president Goodluck Jonathan. He did not wait for the final result before he congratulated Muhammadu Buhari, who could not believe it. The Jonathan example is good for our democracy. Unfortunately, our system lacks willing disciples of Jonathan’s statesman conduct and leadership model. We are still unwilling to accept defeat and congratulate the winner. However, if someone is shortchanged by the system, there is nothing wrong in approaching the courts for justice. That is why election tribunals are established. That is why courts are established.
We have not doubted Amupitan’s resolve or even prowess to conduct the best election ever in Nigerian history. We also do not doubt his ability to conduct an election in which the loser will happily and willingly congratulate the winner. It has happened in the United States where we borrowed our presidential system of governance without its many tenets. It has also happened in some other countries, including some in Africa.
However, what is troubling now is Amupitan’s seeming ambivalence over whether the 2027 poll will be the best ever in the nation’s history and his rhetoric of not guaranteeing 100% perfect election in the country. At the Citizens’ Town Hall on the Electoral Act 2026 programme aired live on some national television networks, Amupitan said that next year’s election would be the best in the history of the country. He even assured Nigerians that there would be no technical glitches in the 2027 elections. He also said that the 2027 polls won’t be 100% perfect. This is where Amupitan’s ambivalence or prattling in double sense or ambiguity can be located. All along, Amupitan has impressed on all Nigerians, especially those who care to listen to him that he would conduct a free, fair and credible poll in the history of the country.
Beginning from his screening at the Senate as the INEC chairman, Amupitan has never hidden his intention to conduct the best ever election in the history of the country. His performance during the Senate screening was laudable. During that exercise, he appeared as the man ever ready for the job. He eloquently distinguished himself as a round peg in a round hole. And we all clapped for him and urged him to go ahead and deliver the best poll ever. He did his best in Anambra State gubernatorial election which attracted small complaints about vote-buying and rigging. Despite those beer-parlour complaints, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, alias Charlie Nwamgbafor or Olu Atu Egwu clinched his second mandate with great swagger and showmanship ever seen in Anambra electoral history. I am not so sure that any of the contestants ever went to court to reclaim his stolen mandate.
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But the recent polls in Abuja, Kano and Rivers attracted cries of rigging, vote-buying, voter apathy, voter-intimidation and hanky-panky by INEC officials. At the same time, the real-time electronic transmission of results was not as successful as envisaged due to network failure or sabotage or both.
Before Amupitan said he won’t guarantee 100% perfect election in 2027, it is even not in doubt. Nobody expects 100% perfect poll from him in Nigeria. We are not even talking about perfection. Is there any country with perfect election? I doubt if there is any. While perfect election is not what Nigerians are asking from Amupitan, he should not use that excuse as an alibi to fail in giving us the best election ever in our national history as he has promised. Undoubtedly, conducting an election in Nigeria is indeed a herculean task. Even if where the umpire has agreed and vowed to conduct a credible poll, some people along the line of operation may subvert that lofty goal. It has been established that elections are usually rigged at the collation centres. However, election rigging can also occur at any other level, from ward to the final collation centre.
While Amupitan has many times vowed to conduct the best election in the country, he should not add another rhetoric that would distract from that lofty promise. He should be firm and avoid sounding ambivalent or ambiguous. The position of INEC chairman demands firmness and clarity in communication. There should be no room for mixed messages or information. Despite our imperfections, Nigerians still believe that someone like him can indeed conduct a free and credible poll in the nation’s history. I say this because there is a precedent. In 1993, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, did exactly that. If Nwosu could do it, another person can equally do so.
Having a credible election is not a rocket science. It is doable. What it takes is the will and intentionality to do so. Although our electoral system is not perfect yet, it can be strengthened. It can be made to function more efficiently and effectively. However, INEC needs adequate funding to conduct a free, fair and credible election. It also needs the support of the federal government, politicians, the electorate and other stakeholders to conduct a credible election.
