The Independent National electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) is an electoral body in Nigeria set up to conduct elections in Nigeria . Its origin can be traced to the period before the nation's independence when in 1960 The Federal Electoral commission was established in 1960 to conduct 1959 elections in the country. This electoral body was however dissolved after the 1966 coup which ushered in the military administration in the country.

Nigeria's INEC is a permanent body with presence felt in the 36 states of the country including Abuja as well as the 774 local government areas in the country where teeming populations of candidates wait on the body to vie for political offices in the country. It is as a result of this development that INEC asserts to the claim that the body has more than before repositioned itself to deliver credible elections that will sustain nascent and hard earned democracy in the country which many people have since doubted in view of the history of the past elections organized by the body.

The commission as presently constituted is made up of a chairman and 12 national commissioners and established in accordance with section 153(f) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the major functions of organizing and supervising the elections to the positions of the President, Vice-President, Governors and deputy Governors of a state, to the members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and of the Assembly of each state, registration of political parties etc.

INEC in its history has conducted several elections in the country all of which has been deemed to the besieged with unfairness and without fairness excepting the June 12 elections which even the acclaimed winner in the presidential race, Chief M. K. O. Abiola never assumed office, or better put never lived to claim his mandate because his mandate was unfairly denied him, thus he died in a mysterious circumstances in the hands of the Government of the country while struggling to claim his mandate. INEC is therefore seen as a biased commission not capable of organizing credible elections and an instrument of sitting leaders to achieve their personal means politically.

As noted in this write up, INEC is viewed as a failure in terms of organizations of credible elections into political offices in Nigeria that would produce credible personalities capable of running the nations without first considering their personal interests which to large extent has led to fraud and large scale electoral malpractices in the country. The problem with INEC would seem to begin the fact that the body contrary to the name is not an independent body because the body is firmly tied to the aprons of the Federal Government of Nigeria which uses the body to achieve its personal means dictating who should vie for particular offices and who should eventually win such offices. In this way INEC does not function without undue interference from Government Agencies and even political parties. (This is the view of Otunba Nicholas Tofowomo Chairman of Isedale Yoruba in the Diaspora UK) According to him "INEC is an invisible quasi extension of the presidency"

INEC is also seen as an organization that cannot be trusted by even political candidates vying for offices in organizing credible and competent elections in the land. It would also seem that the appointment of the chairman of the body and other directors by the presidency makes INEC a baby of the government with a natural instinct to act according to the whims and caprices of the Federal Government. The height of this was seen during the rule of Obasanjo when he singly hand-picked the present president of the country to vie for presidential office under the platform of the ruling party, PDP, this candidate went ahead to win in the election much to the surprise of the international monitors and observers.

Again, Babangida, the former military president of the country went ahead to set up to political parties in his years as the ruler, and when it was clear that chief MKO Abiola the presidential candidate of one of the parties was leading ordered his baby-INEC to stop further release of the results, with the then chairman of the electoral body, Prof Humphrey Nwosu later arrested because he would go ahead with the result of the results and was set to officially unveil the Late Chief MKO Abiola as the winner of the election and president of the country. Abiola would later die in a circumstance deemed very controversial while fighting to claim his mandate and assume office of the executive president of the country. It would be surprising to note that only this year Chief MKO Abiola became officially unveiled as the winner of the election by the man who presided over the election, Prof Humphrey Nwosu, fifteen years after the said election.

"ONE major aspect that INEC had admitted not having control over is violence. Despite its warnings to the parties that it will not hesitate to cancel the polls where violence dominates, reported cases of killings dot the terrain, as supporters of the leading political parties- ANPP/ Action Congress (AC) and the PDP are at daggers drawn." (The Guardian, Saturday March 29, 2008)

From the above quotation, we know that the threat of violence is one major area INEC has failed woefully to establish its control on, people begin to lose their lives at the commencement of mere electioneering in Nigeria, dieing under unknown circumstances, threats to lives and petitions to the police and relevant Agencies also increase with INEC, the police and the judiciaries unable to track downs these killers or even unravel circumstances surrounding the deaths of scores of people. Fear of violence forms one good reason for low turn out of voters in time of elections in the country as people who foresee violence often decide to stay indoor and save their dear lives. The presence of truckloads of fierce-looking soldiers or policeman does not also help matters as people always want to avoid problems and not wanting to risk their lives over what they term nothing.

Killers for political reasons are usually not known and are therefore not prosecuted, these killers once describes as nest of killers in PDP by the Nobel Laureate for Literature, Prof Wole Soyinka as a result are left free to continue with their killings in view of the inability of the police to properly identify them.

INEC has also been noted for not adequately creating awareness before, during and after elections causing electorates to strictly rely on scanty information available to the literate and illiterate public, in this way, runour becomes the order of the day, with the electorates sometimes preferring to rather sit down in their houses and watch or sometimes decide to participate when after neighbours have participated. This is not good because a situation like this may hardly sustain the nascent democracy in the country.

Often times too, we have never in this country witness anyone bag a sentence for stealing mandates or in the first place finding his way in an office where he did not rightly belong, the result therefore is that, judicial maters on INEC are not taken seriously and are only believed to at worst, order such fraudulent person to step down or vacate the office. We want to see a situation whereby mandate thieves are sentenced to several years of imprisonments.

The presence of electoral reform committees is quite necessary in putting the country forward in electing credible officers; this will no doubt improve how public desires are expressed in election results in the country and ultimately increase voter participation in our electoral matters, safety of citizens to vote should also be improved upon. The impact of electoral reform committee in achieving this development is therefore very vital to cause of sustainability of the country's nascent democracy.

Quite a lot of observers have advocated for the involvement of the participation of political parties in the appointment of the chairman and directors of INEC to increase the confidence and participations of voters. At present, the ruling party of PDP appoints the chairman and directors of INEC which is very unfair to other political parties who usually enter into the race having prejudice at the back of their minds against them. It would also be befitting if the members of political parties comprise of the directors of INEC so that imbalance in the organization will be eliminated greatly. This composition of INEC should be improved without further waste of time if the body is to arrange credible and fair elections in the country because the body as presently constituted is assumed to be lacking in trust and tantamount to mockery.

INEC from inception to this day has always been in learning process as a result of which the people of the country has lost sense of confidence in INEC as presently constitutions. Because the people believe that INEC encourages the rigging of elections into vital positions in the country and makes selections of individuals favourite to them. When this is done no particular political partu will find it easy to manipulate elections in the country as positive changes will be impacted on the country as whole but until this is done typical rigging and selection of candidates will continue and this will consequently continue to act as a threat top the nascent democracy in the country which all have believed has come to stay. INEC for sure needs electoral reform committee to im[pact positive changes on the country.