Mike Igini, former resident electoral commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says he regrets spending 10 years with the electoral body.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News, Igini
highlighted the longstanding resistance to fair elections and the personal
risks involved, including the killing of his colleague in Kano for attempting
to “do the right thing.”
“I spent over 30 years of my life, including 10 practical
years in INEC, working to remove the history of our elections from the realm of
frustration and pain, so we can give meaning and purpose to the ballot as the
best means of expressing the will of the people in a democracy,” Igini said.
“To now find out that all that we did was in vain, that’s
why I regret that I wasted my 10 years in service of the fatherland because I’d
have been a dead man by now.
“However, I would have been a dead man pursuing this cause;
my colleague in Kano was killed because we wanted to do the right thing for
Nigeria. His entire family wiped out.”
He raised concerns about recently proposed amendments to the
Electoral Act, cautioning that they could expose presiding officers to severe
threats at polling units if approved by the president.
Igini decried the “level of hypocrisy” among those involved
in Nigeria’s elections, describing his efforts as ultimately wasted in the face
of systemic challenges.
As an advocate for electoral integrity, Igini emphasised the
need to protect the democratic process and ensure the ballot truly reflects the
people’s will.
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