Former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner, Mike Igini, has accused some politicians of manipulating National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) personnel lists and producing fake corps members to compromise the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
Igini made the allegation during an interview on ARISE News on Tuesday, calling on the NYSC to strengthen its verification mechanisms and ensure that only genuine corps members are deployed for electoral duties.
He warned that political interference in the recruitment and deployment of election personnel posed a serious threat to electoral credibility, particularly at the polling-unit level, where presiding officers play a critical role in the voting process.
According to the former INEC commissioner, his experience in election administration revealed that politicians sometimes infiltrated NYSC personnel lists, especially at the state level, to introduce individuals who were not legitimate members of the national service scheme.
“What we found by way of experience in places I’ve worked was that the NYSC is usually infiltrated. The list is infiltrated, and that’s why the recommendation has really been the DG of NYSC.
“You must certify the integrity of the list of NYSC because what politicians do is that they infiltrate the list, either at the state level, then we bring in people and sew NYSC uniforms for them,” Igini said.
He alleged that such individuals were subsequently presented as election officials through compromised arrangements, raising concerns about the impartiality of personnel responsible for conducting elections at polling units.
Igini emphasised the importance of technology in strengthening electoral safeguards, arguing that institutions that failed to adopt technological innovations risked becoming vulnerable to manipulation, inefficiency and institutional decline.
He maintained that technological solutions, alongside effective verification procedures, would help protect the electoral process from political interference.
The former INEC commissioner also urged Nigerians to recognise their responsibility in safeguarding the integrity of elections, stressing that voters could play a decisive role in ensuring transparency at polling units.
He noted that only four electoral officials were typically assigned to each polling unit, while voters usually outnumbered them, giving citizens considerable leverage to monitor proceedings and demand accountability.
“But the good news to the Nigerian people is that at the polling unit you have only four officials,” he said.
Igini cited Nigeria’s 176,846 polling units as opportunities for citizens to protect their votes by remaining vigilant and ensuring that electoral officials adhered to established procedures.
“The power of the people at the polling unit is awesome,” he said, adding that voters would normally outnumber polling officials.
He urged Nigerians to take an active interest in the electoral process rather than leave the responsibility for credible elections entirely to INEC and other institutions.
