A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Fidelis Oditah, has emphasised the urgent need for the next Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be a person of unquestionable integrity, independence, and professional competence, not a political loyalist.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday, Oditah stated that President Bola Tinubu has a constitutional and moral responsibility to appoint a credible and impartial figure to head the country’s electoral body, especially in light of the controversies surrounding the 2023 general elections.
“The INEC chairman needs to be someone who is impartial, independent, competent, accountable, professional and trustworthy. No one who witnessed the 2023 elections can have very good things to say about INEC,” Oditah declared.
The legal luminary, who previously contested the governorship of Delta State, argued that Nigeria’s electoral challenges stem not from weak legal frameworks but from a lack of integrity and accountability among those in charge of implementation.
“We cannot legislate integrity into existence,” he warned. “The problem with elections in Nigeria is not the law — we have a sound legal framework. The problem is governance and character.”
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Oditah further expressed concern over recent court rulings arising from post-election litigation, describing some of the judgments as lacking in legal rigour and fairness. He specifically criticised the inconsistent handling of cases related to the use of the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) for real-time transmission of election results.
“There’s been some very dodgy jurisprudence from our courts, particularly in cases involving IREV. The credibility of our electoral system is being eroded not just by INEC’s conduct but also by judicial inconsistency,” he said.
Oditah’s comments come at a time of renewed national debate over electoral reforms and institutional credibility, with calls mounting for a transparent process in the appointment of the next INEC chairman as the tenure of the current leadership draws closer to its end.
