-Expresses Doubt Over Credibility Of Commission
A former Chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC and renowned socio-political analyst, Dr Sam Amadi, has alleged that 29 staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, were recently given plots of land in Abuja and #50 million each.
Amadi, who expressed reservation about the development which he described as disguised inducement that is capable of compromising the outcome of the 2027 elections.
Sam Amadi, Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, made the allegation during an interview on Arise News while discussing concerns about the credibility and institutional independence of INEC ahead of Nigerian’s upcoming elections
He noted that the commission is the only constitutional body exempted from presidential rule-making control, a protection introduced under President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 precisely to insulate the commission from executive interference.
Against that backdrop, he said the reported conduct of its officials was deeply troubling.
In his words, Sam Amadi said, “29 of 29 INEC officials reported by both Saturday Reporter newspapers to have been given a plot of land and 50 million naira — worth 180 million.
The INEC official the same man we met confirmed that they got a plot of land. That itself violates the whole idea of independence.
INEC cannot get land that is not available to other public servants. That is straight grass-shia, and that undermines the constitutional protection of independence,” he said.
Amadi stressed that accepting such gifts from parties connected to the government fundamentally compromised the behavioural impartiality that regulators are expected to maintain, regardless of whether structural independence existed on paper.
He drew a clear distinction between the two, arguing that independence must be both structural and behavioural to be meaningful.
He called the situation a critical warning sign, particularly given that the general elections were approaching, and urged civil society, opposition parties, and international observers to take the matter seriously rather than assume the electoral system was functioning credibly without verified evidence to support that assumption”.
