INEC Chairman Cannot Be Blamed For Rigging – Deji Adeleke

The President of Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, and billionaire businessman, Deji Adeleke, has said that no Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can single-handedly prevent election rigging in Nigeria.

Adeleke made the remarks on Sunday during the 12th undergraduate and eighth postgraduate convocation ceremonies of Adeleke University in Ede, Osun State, where he called on all stakeholders to work collectively to ensure free, fair, and credible elections.

Speaking to the graduating students and guests, the elder brother of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke argued that electoral malpractice often occurs at the polling unit level, where ad hoc officials and security personnel are deployed to conduct and safeguard the voting process.

According to him, some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) assigned to election duties, as well as police officers providing security, sometimes compromise the integrity of elections by accepting bribes to alter results.

He stressed that it is unrealistic to expect the INEC chairman to personally monitor every polling unit across the country during elections.

“People die, there is violence during elections. They have killed young people like you graduating today who might become adult staff of INEC, changing figures.

“You cannot blame that on the INEC chairman when youth corps members are collecting ₦50,000 and changing figures at the polling unit.

“Even if the INEC chairman is a spirit, is he going to be at all the polling units in Nigeria?

“Very soon we are going to have an election in Osun State. Osun State has 3,763 polling units. Is it humanly possible for the INEC chairman to be at all those polling units at the same time?

“But they have entrusted it to young people like you, and yet they will collect money and change the figures. We also have policemen with children who need a good country to have a future, aiding and abetting the rigging process, and people are killed just because of elections,” Adeleke said.

He maintained that restoring confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process requires integrity from everyone involved, including election officials, security personnel, the judiciary, political actors, and the electorate.

Adeleke also lamented the consequences of electoral fraud, warning that manipulated elections tarnish Nigeria’s image on the global stage despite the country’s abundance of talented citizens.

According to him, the actions of individuals who undermine the electoral process, as well as judicial decisions that fail to uphold justice, have long-term implications for the nation’s democratic development.

He urged Nigerians to embrace reforms and a renewed commitment to transparency, insisting that it is not too late to rebuild public confidence in the country’s democratic institutions.

“It’s very painful when you see these things happen because of ignorance of the implications of what people do on election day or the ignorance of judges perverting justice. The implication is that Nigeria will continue to regret it if it doesn’t change immediately. But it’s not too late for us to change. It’s never too late to start all over,” he added.