In Nigeria, democracy walks with a limp. It was supposed to be a graceful dance, a symphony of the people’s will, but instead, it stumbles under the weight of deceit, manipulation, and institutional betrayal. And at the center of this tragic performance stands the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a body that was supposed to be the referee but has become the star player in a match fixed from the start. Nowhere is this clearer than in Kogi State, where INEC has perfected the art of electoral charades—turning the people’s mandate into a well-scripted drama of theft and oppression.
The crocodile, they say, sheds tears not out of sorrow but hunger. INEC, like a crocodile, pretends to be neutral, acting as if it safeguards democracy while feasting on the very foundation of fair elections. The people march to the polls with hope, yet their votes disappear like rain on a dusty Harmattan road. They call it democracy, but the people of Kogi know better. What they have is not an election umpire but a magician, a master illusionist who turns losers into winners with a stroke of fraud.
The Igala elders have a saying: “A goat that follows a hyena to the bush will not return to tell the story.” This is the fate of democracy in the hands of INEC. The commission is a willing companion of political predators, leading the people’s hopes into the wilderness of electoral robbery. Nigerians keep asking: When will INEC stop behaving like a blind referee in a rigged boxing match, counting knockdowns only when it favors the powerful?
Elections in Kogi State have become nothing short of organized crime. The ballot box, once a sacred vessel of the people’s will, is now a polluted river where votes drown before they can speak. INEC officials, instead of being umpires, have become merchants of stolen mandates. Like a butcher who sells a man his own cow, INEC takes the people’s votes and sells them back to the highest bidder.
Now, another drama is unfolding—the recall process of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. But can Nigerians trust INEC to handle it with integrity, or will it be business as usual? Will it be a fair exercise, or just another well-rehearsed kangaroo show where decisions have been concluded before the process even begins? The same INEC that supervised elections marred by rigging and violence is now expected to oversee a recall? This is like asking a thief to guard the treasury. If a man lies to you once, must he swear an oath before you doubt him the second time?
The truth is bitter, but it must be swallowed. What Nigeria has is not an electoral body but a political hitman in a judge’s robe. And while Nigerians weep for justice, INEC plays deaf, hiding behind technical jargon while democracy bleeds in the streets. How long shall we dance this macabre dance? How long will Nigerians endure this rigged game disguised as elections?
There comes a time when even the patient farmer must chase the birds away from his crops. The people of Kogi, and indeed Nigeria, must rise beyond lamentations and demand true accountability. If INEC refuses to be reformed, then it must be replaced. If democracy must survive, the crocodile must be driven from the river.
Should we trust INEC with the recall of Senator Natasha, or will it be another political script written, directed, and acted by the same old players? The people of Kogi—and Nigerians at large—must decide whether to be spectators in their own oppression or to take charge of their own destiny.
The truth must be told, even if the deaf refuse to hear it.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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