•Odinkalu and Amupitan
Human rights activist and lawyer, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, says he doubts the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by its chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, to conduct credible elections.
Odinkalu, who was a guest on Channels Television last night, took a swipe at Amupitan, specifically saying he could not be trusted to organise free and fair elections in 2027.
“INEC failed,” the guest said while assessing the recently conducted council polls in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“Amupitan’s INEC failed woefully. On this evidence, nobody can trust Joash Amupitan to organise credible elections in 2027.
“There’s nothing else to it; it is not about the law. It is about the failure of will, the failure of electoral administration,” he added.
He charged electoral administrators to conduct their homework or resign their positions for others to do the task.
When asked whether it was too early to judge Amupitan since his appointment late last year, Odinkalu said the new INEC boss had previously conducted a governorship election in Anambra State.
He cited the issue of election logistics in the nation’s capital, describing it as poorly coordinated.
The lawyer also faulted INEC for reassigning voters without properly informing them of a change in their polling units on election day.
‘Admit Failure’
Odinkalu challenged the electoral body to admit to the challenges and apologise to Nigerians for some shortcomings.
According to him, Amupitan can tell Nigerians that, “I take personal responsibility, this is a chastening experience. I am learning, some of these things I saw cannot happen on my watch”.
“But to simply pretend as if these things did not happen and say this is the standard to which elections are organised will be irresponsible,” he stated.
Odinkalu further noted that Nigerians are not asking for perfections but evidence of commitment to improvements by the electoral body.
“A chairperson of INEC who is committed to credible elections would admit that there are failures that should never have happened on the watch of a credible electoral administrator and will say, ‘We will do something about it, enlist citizens who have no partisan commitments to see how we address these issues,’” he added.
