Former Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not have secured victory in the 2015 general elections if the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had been in charge at the time.
Speaking in a recent interview, Amaechi praised former INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega for providing what he described as a transparent and fair electoral process that enabled the APC’s emergence as the ruling party. He contrasted Jega’s tenure with that of the current INEC Chairman, whom he accused of bias and likened to former Chairman Maurice Iwu, whose tenure was widely criticized for lack of credibility.
“The current chairman of INEC, if he was the chairman of INEC in 2015, we would not have won,” Amaechi stated. “May God bless Jega. Because the ground rules were clear. The current chairman can only be compared to Iwu.”
Amaechi further alleged that under the current leadership, INEC would not have registered the APC even if it had met all legal requirements. He warned of growing partisanship within the electoral body, suggesting that the institution is being used as a tool for political control.
“Already, INEC is biased. There’s a state capture using the electoral institution as a machine,” he said, expressing concern about the country’s democratic trajectory.
