- Calls for stronger INEC, electoral offences commission, single five-year presidential term
As Nigeria commemorated Democracy Day, eminent jurist and former Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, SAN, has warned that the country’s greatest democratic danger ahead of the 2027 general elections is not merely ballot manipulation but the steady erosion of public confidence in the electoral process.
In a Democracy Day message released on Thursday, Ezeilo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Life Bencher and former United Nations Special Rapporteur, said Nigeria stands at a “democratic crossroads” where restoring public trust must become a national priority.
According to her, although reforms such as the Electoral Act, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) have improved the country’s electoral architecture, recent elections have shown that sound laws and technological innovations can still be undermined by institutional pressure, logistical failures and inconsistent application of the rules.
“The greatest threat to our democracy is the erosion of public trust,” she said, pointing to vote buying, voter intimidation, abuse of incumbency, misinformation, attacks on election officials and weak accountability as factors that continue to undermine electoral credibility.
The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons warned that democracy itself is endangered when citizens begin to doubt that their votes matter.
Looking ahead to the 2027 elections, Ezeilo urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that every stage of the electoral process is transparent, accountable and capable of inspiring public confidence.
“INEC must know that Nigerians are watching and will demand free, fair and credible elections,” she stated.
Drawing from remarks she delivered at the recent June 12 Commemorative Lecture in honour of the late Professor Humphrey Nwosu, Ezeilo argued that meaningful accountability remains the most urgent electoral reform facing the country.
She advocated clear legal provisions governing the transmission and collation of election results, the establishment of an independent body to investigate and prosecute electoral offences, and greater transparency throughout the entire electoral cycle.
The legal scholar also stressed the pivotal role of the judiciary, urging courts to protect rather than undermine the sovereignty of the electorate.
“The vote is the clearest expression of the people’s will; when it is protected, democracy thrives,” she said.
Beyond election administration, Ezeilo called for broader constitutional and political reforms. She urged lawmakers to advance inclusive governance by passing the proposed Special Seats Bill aimed at improving women’s political representation and recommended consideration of a single five-year tenure for elected executives as a means of reducing incumbency advantage and curbing abuses associated with re-election campaigns.
She further urged political parties, civil society organisations, security agencies, the judiciary and citizens to work collectively to safeguard electoral integrity, insisting that the 2027 polls should be approached not merely as another election but as a national democratic reform project.
“We do not lose democracy only when ballots are stolen,” Ezeilo cautioned. “We lose it when citizens lose faith in the process.”
She concluded that Nigeria’s democratic future remains within reach, provided the country embraces transparency, accountability and the courage to pursue meaningful reforms.
