Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, has argued that in order to combat corruption and restore confidence, the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, should be led by new, trustworthy individuals with brief terms.

At the Chinua Achebe leadership forum at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, Obasanjo made this appeal.

Speaking on “Nigeria’s state capture and leadership failure,” Obasanjo called the general elections in 2023 a farce.

The country’s top priority, according to the former military head of state, is electoral reform. He also stated that INEC personnel must undergo rigorous screening in order to avoid partisan appointments.

He demanded that the INEC chairperson and all of the staff undergo immediate, comprehensive screening, stating that the process should produce impartial, nonpartisan individuals with spotless records.

“To stop unwanted political interference and corruption and restore voters’ faith in the electoral institutions, Nigeria must make sure that new, credible INEC leadership is appointed at the federal, state, local government, and municipal—city, town, and village levels—with brief tenures.

Obasanjo stated, “The INEC chairperson must be transparently independent and incorruptible in addition to being completely above board.”

He asserts that in order to preserve democratic integrity, Nigeria must defend elections from both domestic and foreign malicious actors and prohibit electoral meddling at all levels.

He added that in order to guarantee accountability and transparency, clearly defined funding restrictions for political campaigns should be put into place.

He claims that during the 2023 presidential election, INEC purposefully neglected to use the election watching site (IReV) and bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) technologies.

Before 2023, two technology advancements—the BVAS and IReV—were hailed for their ability to improve election results’ accuracy and transparency, remove the possibility of election tampering, and increase public confidence in the process, he added.