By Kenechukwu Ofomah, Awka
Renowned Law Professor and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Chidi Odinkalu has expressed the view that idea peddled by some quarters that the 2027 General Elections will mark an end to Nigeria as a nation is more of a hyperbole than truism.
Odinkalu believes the idea only reflects what he called the dark omens and a manifest desire of the regime in power in the country at the moment to not have competitive elections.
In a recent interview he published on his official X page, titled “Third Term Agenda: The Plot Beyond 2027,” Odinkalu suggested that Nigerians should prepare for the possibility of a third-term bid beyond 2027.
According to him, his concerns stem from the alleged manifest desire of the regime in power at the moment to preclude candidates, with artificial, manufactured excuses, from being able to compete, and then to have the incumbent declared, basically announced unopposed.
“President Tinubu has not done all of this just for four years, just for another four years. There will be a third term,” Odinkalu said. “Anybody who is doubting it, is not reading the evidence.”
He added that he hopes to be wrong, “I wish I am very wrong. I don’t wish it on the country. They’ve voted quite significant sums to fund the election petition system. So they control also significant political patronage, judicial patronage. They control INEC; they control the judiciary; they are building mansions for judges.
These things are not donations. There is going to be payback.”
Odinkalu regretted that the responsibility for determining election winners has shifted from voters to the judiciary, adding that until the nation returns that to the voters, democracy in Nigeria will just be civilian government.
He also raised concerns about the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral system, saying he does not believe that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under its current leadership, can conduct a credible election in 2027.
Acknowledging that he had publicly applauded the new INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, when he was newly appointed, Odinkalu said recent developments under his watch does not speak of a leader with the intention to build a credible institution.
“I do not believe that INEC under the current leadership of my brother and friend, Professor Joash Amupitan, can conduct a credible election in Nigeria in 2027,” Odinkalu stated. “I say that with a lot of pain in my heart.
“As a leader trying to build a credible institution, you’ve got to be firm about what your ideals are. It does not mean you will achieve those ideals on day one, but you have processes that continue to be refined in pursuit of those ideals.
“INEC conducted a sham of FCT elections under Amupitan, and he was talking of the sham as an election.
“A credible chair of INEC would have said there are things that happened that should not have happened, and we are going to institute processes of learning and inquiry to make sure they cannot happen again.
“If you cannot control for credibility in six area councils of FCT, how can you do elections at the national level? So that’s my worry at the moment. I’ve got to say, I do not have the confidence that INEC under the current leadership can produce anything remotely resembling an election.”
Odinkalu, a professor at Tufts University, contrasted the current INEC leadership with that of former chairman Attahiru Jega.
He argued that Jega’s tenure saw a reduction in post-election litigation, citing data that the percentage of contested seats that ended up in court dropped from about 87% in 2007 before he came, to 51% in 2011 and 43% in 2015.
By contrast, he said, when Jega left, 56% of seats were litigated after the 2019 elections and 82.5% after the 2023 elections under Yakubu’s chairmanship.
