The Ohanaeze Youth Forum, OYF, has raised alarm over purported threat to the credibility of the 2027 elections in the South-East following allegations of partisanship against the INEC National Commissioner overseeing Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi states, Dr. Ken Nnamdi Ukeagu.
The Ohanaeze youths in a statement alleged that Ukeagu has abandoned the neutrality that his office demands, in exchange for partisan relationships.
The group alleged that the INEC Commissioner has become a committed ally of the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, and other opposition candidates in Imo and Anambra States.
A statement signed by the Secretary-General, Ohanaeze Youth Forum, OYF, Agwu-Awah Malachy, lamented that the South-East has endured enough instability, and will not stay silent while the region’s electoral process is compromised from within.
“According to the reliable information at our disposal, the Commissioner is actively collaborating with these candidates. He has been leaking sensitive INEC documents to them, offering them electoral consultancy. These are not minor lapses. They are direct breaches of the Electoral Act and of the oath of impartiality every INEC officer swears,” OYF alleged.
“The danger of leaving this compromised officer in place is clear and alarming. Elections depend on public trust. If voters believe the officer supervising their election is working for one side, they will reject the outcome, however it turns out.
“Sensitive election information in partisan hands invites manipulation, undermines fair competition, and gives losing parties a ready reason to reject results.
“In a region as politically charged as the South-East, this could provoke unrest and deepen public cynicism, and it would weaken Nigeria’s democracy, which depends on the integrity of its electoral institutions, and breed another cycle of armed conflict.
Following the series of allegations, OYF urged the INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to immediately redeploy Dr Ukeagu from oversight of the South-East, pending a full and transparent investigation into these matters.
The Ohanaeze group said, “We shall be forwarding to the Commission a petition bearing all the facts and documents we have uncovered.
“We also urge the Presidency, the National Assembly and the Council of State to treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves as a national security issue.
“The youth of Igboland are watching, and we will not allow anyone to turn our region’s elections into a partisan project. We will keep up peaceful, lawful pressure until INEC acts. We call on all stakeholders, the media, civil society and security agencies to help protect the integrity of the 2027 polls. The credibility of Nigeria’s democracy is at stake here.”