Nigeria’s electoral show of shame

The conduct of the 2023 presidential/National Assembly polls on February 25 has once more stirred deep questions on the credibility and integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission. A host of domestic and international observers agreed that the polls grossly fell short of minimum global standards. It is a shame that after seven election cycles, balloting in Nigeria remains riddled with inefficiency and tainted by accusations of result falsification, vote-buying, voter-suppression, calculated disenfranchisement, and violence.

Just like the previous general elections that were defiled by malpractices, Nigerians are traumatised by the first rounds of balloting in the 2023 election cycle. This is despite the introduction of enhanced technology tools—the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, and the INEC Result Viewing Portal—and repeated promises by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to bequeath clean elections to Nigeria….