Prof.Chris Kwaja Rejects The Scrapping Of SIEC To Be Replaced With INEC To Conduct Local Elections In Nigeria

Samson Yakubu

A renowned Nigerian Professor Chris Kwaja and Country Director for the United States Institute for Peace, and a Special Envoy on Peace and Security to the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Barr. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang has identified some of the key components responsible for the credibility of the conduct of States’ independent Electoral Commissions in Nigeria to be replaced with an independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

While addressing a forum of state independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON) held in, Jos, Plateau, on a keynote speech, Prof Kwaja said the appointment of the Chairperson for the commission and the sets of individuals attached with the lists of persons to be appointed as ad-hoc staff, including the permanent staff contributed to the challenges faced during the conduct of an election in Nigeria.

Speaking at the 13th National delegates conference in Jos 2025 with a theme, “Local Government elections in Nigeria, challenges and opportunities “, Kwaja identified that the behaviour of such individuals might create a serious problem to the principle of an electoral exercise.

According to him, the meeting would afford the stakeholders to discuss also divine into the critical issues when it comes to the conduct of elections and the guidelines governing the exercise.

He employed them to take proactive measures by going deep into the challenges, as “one of the biggest issues is to conduct credible elections, best on the credibility of the Electoral process, where SIEC needs to identify the issue and find a lasting solution to it.

He argued that the rules governing our electoral system in Nigeria are very clear, it is for us to embrace the guiding principle of the exercise, but at the end of the day, PLASIEC stood with the people and for the people to conduct this election at the local level in Nigeria.

We want to commend SIEC for the conduct of elections, but he disclosed that after the exercise of elections, there is no room for brainstorming on it and then sharing experiences from the state independent Electoral Commissions.

Kwaja revealed that the environment for the exercise is highly politicized, so the stakeholder engagement across the 36 states should make decisions to deal with the issues.

He stated that an election is a double-edged sword; you can use it to make peace, or you can use it to destroy society. All these, the choice is yours, but if you want to conduct an election that would divide your people, the exercise shall be marred by rigging.

Prof.Kwaja pointed out that one of the keynote speakers harps on the poor conduct of elections by PLASIEC or SIEC across the country when he argued that state independent Electoral Commissions remain an umpire to conduct local elections in Nigeria as long as we are practicing true federalism.

He called on the stakeholders to focus more on specific parts of what autonomy for SIEC means, stressing that it includes the capacity for SIEC to recruit members, the permanent staff, and the ad-hoc staff.

Adding that when you were appointed as the chairperson of SIEC but you have to give a list of persons to be appointed as ad-hoc staff, so this set of individuals will behave in such a way that sometimes conflicts with the operation.

The renowned scholar urged the federal government to maintain the state’s independent Electoral Commissions for conducting local elections, but insisted that the recruitment process should be reviewed to give it credibility