Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs new, credible leaders with short tenure to prevent corruption and re-establish trust.
Obasanjo said this during the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, according to BusinessDay,
In his keynote address at the forum entitled ‘Leadership failure and state capture in Nigeria,’ Obasanjo described the 2023 general elections as a ‘travesty,’ stressing that any INEC chairperson and their staff must be vetted before appointment.
“As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted,” Obasanjo said.
“The vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan actors with impeccable reputations.
“Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government, and municipal—city, town, and village levels—with short tenures—to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption and re-establish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens.”
The former president said the INEC chairperson must not only be absolutely above board but must also be transparently independent and incorruptible.
