From Doubt to Disquiet: When Neutrality Is No Longer Assumed

[John Onyeukwu]

https://dnnmedia.ng/op-ed-from-doubt-to-disquiet-when-neutrality-is-no-longer-assumed/

 From Doubt to Disquiet: When Neutrality Is No Longer Assumed

As controversy clouds the INEC Chairman’s perceived impartiality, Nigeria confronts a deeper risk: the erosion of trust in the electoral referee itself.

By John Onyeukwu |Governance Lens Column| Development News Network

 *On October 18, 2025, I wrote to an open letter to Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan* at the moment of his confirmation as Chairman of INEC, urging him to replace “eloquent fatalism” with institutional clarity, discipline, and courage. That counsel rested on a simple premise: that the legitimacy of an electoral body depends not only on what it does, but on what the public believes it is capable of doing, fairly, independently, and without predisposition. Today, that premise is under visible strain.

In recent days, social media content widely attributed to the Chairman has surfaced in the public domain, suggesting past expressions of politically aligned views. The precise provenance of the account remains contested. What is not contested, however, is the effect: a growing cloud of doubt around the perceived neutrality of the office.

That doubt has been deepened, not resolved, by the sequence of responses that followed. There have been attempts, direct and indirect, to distance the Chairman from the account. Questions of impersonation have been raised. Digital traces have been disputed. The account itself appears to have been altered, restricted, or taken down. Yet, rather than settling the matter, these layered responses have prolonged it. Each step, instead of closing the credibility gap, has widened it.

In public leadership, perception is not a cosmetic concern; it is foundational. INEC is not an ordinary institution. It is the constitutional referee of Nigeria’s democratic process. Its authority does not lie in enforcement power alone, but in the collective belief that it stands above partisan interest. The moment that belief is shaken, every decision, no matter how procedurally sound, becomes subject to suspicion. This is the danger of the present moment.

Ordinarily, institutional friction between INEC and political parties would be read as part of the democratic process. But under current conditions, even routine regulatory actions risk reinterpretation through a partisan lens. Administrative discretion begins to look like political calculation. Even procedural decisions begin to feel partisan strategic. That is how trust erodes, not always through proven wrongdoing, but through unresolved doubt.

The October letter warned against precisely this outcome: opacity, selective perception, and the slow corrosion of institutional confidence. Integrity, it argued, must begin with internal accountability and extend outward through transparency.

We have now arrived at a point where the credibility question is no longer abstract. Can a Chairman, whose perceived neutrality is under sustained public questioning, effectively preside over an institution whose legitimacy depends entirely on that neutrality? This is not a legal question. It is an institutional one.

Across democracies, there are moments when public officials must make decisions not on the basis of proven culpability, but on the preservation of institutional trust. In such moments, stepping aside is not an admission of guilt; it is an affirmation that the office is bigger than the occupant.

Professor Amupitan must now confront that choice.

To remain in office under a cloud of unresolved perception is to ask the institution to carry a burden it should not bear. It risks normalising doubt at the very centre of electoral governance. It invites political actors to question outcomes not on evidence, but on preconditioned mistrust.

Stepping down, by contrast, would reset the institutional ground. It would signal that INEC’s credibility is non-negotiable, and that leadership is prepared to make difficult sacrifices to preserve it.

If that decision is not taken, then responsibility shifts, inevitably, to the President and the Senate that nominated and confirmed him. Confirmation is not a ceremonial act; it is part of a continuum of accountability. Where circumstances arise that materially affect public confidence in an appointee’s capacity to discharge the duties of office, the Senate must be prepared to act, within constitutional bounds, to protect the integrity of the institution. This is not about personalities. It is about preserving the minimum conditions for democratic legitimacy.

Nigeria’s democratic process is already under strain, from economic hardship, political fragmentation, and declining trust in public institutions. In such a context, the electoral umpire must be unimpeachable, not only in fact, but in perception. Anything less invites a dangerous recalibration: from citizens believing in the system, to merely enduring it.

The hope expressed in October was clear, that this tenure would mark the end of excuses and the beginning of institutional efficacy. That hope now stands at a crossroads.

Leadership is not tested when confidence is abundant. It is tested when confidence is in question. This is such a moment. And in moments like this, the most consequential act of leadership may not be to endure, but to step aside, so that the institution can stand.

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
“Let us move forward to fight poverty, to establish equity, and assure peace for the next generation.”
-- James D. Wolfensohn
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