Replace Alleged APC Members Appointed As INEC Electoral Commissioners, SERAP Tells Tinubu

SERAP urged him “to urgently nominate qualified Nigerians who are persons of unquestionable integrity and a non-member of a political party as replacement for the alleged APC members and to submit the names of any such Nigerians for confirmation by the Senate ahead of the 2027 general elections.”

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to reconsider his appointment of at least three alleged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

SERAP also urged him to “urgently direct Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to draft and send a bill to the National Assembly to enhance the independence of INEC, in conformity with your oath of office and constitutional requirements ahead of the 2027 general elections.”

SERAP’s letter followed the nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate of Messrs Etekamba Umoren (Akwa Ibom) Isah Shaka Ehimeakne (Edo), Bunmi Omoseyindemi (Lagos), and Anugbum Onuoha (Rivers) in October 2023.

In the letter dated June 7, 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said, “Holding the 2027 general elections amid the appointment of partisan RECs will make a mockery of Nigerians’ right to participate in free and fair elections and undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

“Sending a draft bill to the National Assembly well ahead of the 2027 general elections to improve the independence and impartiality of INEC would enhance the integrity and legitimacy of the elections, and address the serious and debilitating problems witnessed during the 2023 general elections.”

The letter read in part, “Public perception of the independence of INEC is essential for building public confidence in the electoral process. Where Nigerians have doubts about the independence of INEC, they are more likely to have less confidence in the electoral process, thereby undermining democracy.

“Your government has the constitutional responsibilities to ensure both the appearance and the actual independence and impartiality in the appointment of INEC top officials.”

The organisation said Nigeria’s electoral body must enjoy independence from direction or control, whether from the government or any other quarter. “It must be accountable to the electorate and act accordingly,” it said.

It further stated, “Treating INEC as a line department accountable to bureaucratic higher-ups and high-ranking politicians rather than as an independent and impartial body is antithetical to constitutional and international standards and the notion of the rule of law.

“The use of the word ‘non-partisan’ means that those to be appointed to conduct credible elections must not be people who openly identify as belonging to a political party, whose occupation is politics or who are perceived by ordinary Nigerians as having political biases.

“Section 153(1) (f) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that ‘There shall be established for the Federation the following bodies, namely – (f) Independent National Electoral Commission.’

“Section 156(1) of the Nigerian Constitution provides among others that, ‘in the case of the Independent National Electoral Commission, he[she] [the person to be appointed as a REC] shall not be a member of a political party.'”