Nigeria's leading political parties have lost moral ground to criticise the Independent National Electoral Commission after their recent primary elections were riddled with the same fraud, candidate imposition, and voter disenfranchisement they regularly accuse INEC of enabling.
The All Progressives Congress, People's Democratic Party, Nigeria Democratic Congress, African Democratic Congress, and Labour Party all faced accusations of rigging their primaries. Videos circulated on social media showed party officials engaging in absurd ballot manipulations, counting voters in queues as "1, 10, 50, 100, 300" instead of sequential numbers. In many locations, election officials simply allocated votes to preferred candidates without holding any vote at all.
Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and APC governorship aspirant in Bauchi State, said the party's national chairman called aspirants to announce that MA Abubakar had already been selected as the gubernatorial candidate. "We wanted an election where whoever won would emerge, and whoever lost would accept the outcome," Tuggar said. "But the National Chairman of our party called us, and announced that MA Abubakar had been selected as the governorship candidate."
Prof. Isa Pantami, former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, withdrew from the APC governorship primary in Gombe State, accusing the party of violating the Electoral Act 2026. During National Assembly primaries in the state, Pantami said no actual election took place. Aspirants were not given details on venues, procedures, agent and observer accreditation, yet results were announced regardless. "According to the testimony of several aspirants, relevant details on venues, procedures, and agent and observer accreditation were not provided, but results were announced," Pantami explained.
A political analyst noted the gravity of the situation. "If two former senior members of Buhari and Tinubu's cabinets could be treated shabbily in such brazen manner and candidates handpicked by the ruling party without any election in Bauchi and Gombe states, one can imagine what could have happened to ordinary aspirants in other states."
Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation and presidential aspirant on the ADC platform, rejected his party's primary results. He alleged widespread voter disenfranchisement and said the results were "concocted." The pattern repeats across parties and states, suggesting systemic institutional failure rather than isolated incidents.
These allegations expose a fundamental hypocrisy. Political parties, their candidates, and civil society groups regularly condemn INEC's conduct during general elections, citing identical offences. Yet when managing their own processes, these same parties demonstrate they possess neither the transparency nor the institutional integrity they demand from the electoral commission. The credibility gap is now impossible to ignore.
