Former INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, has acknowledged that the Commission faced numerous challenges during his tenure from 2015 to 2025, which threatened the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process despite the reforms and innovations implemented.
In a new INEC publication titled Election Management in Nigeria: 2015–2025, Yakubu highlighted several recurring obstacles, including pre-election litigations, conflicting court rulings, and violent attacks on INEC staff and facilities, all of which disrupted election preparations and credibility.
He revealed that the Commission was involved in thousands of court cases, often receiving contradictory judgments from courts of equal jurisdiction, creating legal uncertainty.
Yakubu also identified vote buying, logistical failures that led to election postponements, and targeted violence against officials as major challenges.
He noted that technical difficulties, such as equipment malfunctions and network failures, further hindered operations, sometimes delaying voter accreditation and result transmission, which in turn raised public doubts about the electoral process.
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