DDM Election Anniversary: Speakers urge tinkering with INEC, curbing graft in future Nigerian elections

Corruption, unaccountable leadership and many other factors have been attributes to the failure of the 2023 February 2025 general election at the ongoing telethon and election anniversary put up by Diaspora Digital Media, DDM.

DDM, a pan African medium with special focus in catering to news content from Africa for Diaspora audience across the globe started the anniversary series to highlight need for electoral and development reforms for Africa.
Increasingly, Africa nations democracy have continued to collapse principally because of a lack of electoral transparency such as the one that marked the 25, February 2023 election in Nigeria.
Speaker’s after one another on DDM’s anniversary program have since mid afternoon Sunday itemized perceived failure of the election process last year.
Mr Pius Ebong who spoke on the zoom conference of the event said that Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is way too bogus.
According to him, who ever heads INEC as currently constituted is made into a demi-god.
“I think INEC should be unbundled in the future,” Ebong said.
“There should be an authority that takes care of the equipment and the preparations for the elections, and also an authority that does election management system,” he added.
Mr Balogun Ajayi believes that corruption is largely responsible for the failure in the election process in Nigeria.
INEC failed to implement real time upload and broadcast feature of the electoral process after making promises at national and international fora.
But Ajayi attributed all that to corruption.
“Corruption surrounding the 2023 presidential election was highly perversive and deeply disconcerting.
INEC intentionally turned a blind eye to their duties, they where suppose to be the regulatory board, they were suppose to disqualify or approve anybody that does not meet the requirements or criteria but they failed us and we are so disappointed in INEC,” he said.
Prince Ridhwan Hamza said tribalism is also at the core of the matter.
He said that in 1993 when Nigeria had June 12 election, region, religion and tribes didn’t matter.
“We went to the polls voted for the person we thought was the best, that was when we really had an independent electoral commission so much so that the president saw that he couldn’t manipulate the results And he annulled the election,” he said.

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