By Eshioromeh Sebastian
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has declared that Nigeria’s opposition parties will never be satisfied with the nation’s electoral process unless one of their own is appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Keyamo who spoke in a recent interview on Channels TV, dismissed persistent criticisms of the electoral system as self-serving. He argued that opposition in Nigeria are more interested in political advantage than genuine electoral reform.
“Unless the opposition candidate himself becomes the chairman of INEC, they will not rest. Unless you appoint Peter Obi as the chairman of INEC, they will not rest. Unless you appoint the opposition candidate as chairman of the electoral body, they will never be satisfied”, Keyamo said.
The Minister extended his argument further, asserting that even appointing a relative of an opposition leader would not quell complaints.
“Even if you appoint the daughter of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, they will see suspicions. They will say this daughter-in-law, they date the son of the president, so they will disinvest. I’m telling you, they will not rest. I’m being honest with you. I’m having a sincere conversation here.”
On the question of electoral reforms, Keyamo noted that the current administration has already amended the Electoral Act, describing the move as a significant reform that the opposition continues to question.
“They have amended the Electoral Act. This government has amended the Electoral Act. That is a reform. This is a majority decision. We have done that. But it’s still being questioned. They are questioning the amendments we did. Yes. And let them win, come and do their own.”
When the interviewer observed that opposition parties might struggle to win under a system they fundamentally question, Keyamo responded: “But we won! How will they win with a system that they question?”
Keyamo also addressed proposals from civil society organisations advocating that the President should no longer appoint the INEC chairman, with some suggesting the National Judicial Council (NJC) take on that responsibility.
“That’s a larger conversation. Because at the end of the day, nobody falls from heaven.”
He highlighted the inherent conflicts in the proposed alternative. “There has been a suggestion that the judiciary should appoint. The judiciary appoints an INEC chairman. And the Chief Justice of Nigeria sits at the top of the National Judicial Council. You now take a case of which he appoints to hire the Supreme Court, complaining. Is that also not conflict? Any way you look at it, that would be conflict.”
Keyamo noted that even in the United States, “the best democracy in the world”—judicial appointments involve presidential confirmation. “Judges are referred to the NJC. But like in America, subject to confirmation by the President.”
Speaking as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a member of the Inner Bar, Keyamo admitted that corruption exists within the judiciary but argued that the opposition frequently exaggerates the scale of the problem for political ends.
“I don’t like the judiciary to be cast in that light. But you see that, on the other hand, the opposition sometimes make a mountain out of a molehill. There’s corruption in the judiciary. I admit it. But in most cases, it’s amplified when they don’t have their way. That is the truth. That corruption is amplified, or the perception of corruption, once the opposition does not have their way in the courts.”
Keyamo suggested that judges sometimes feel intimidated by opposition noise, though he was careful to qualify his remarks.
“Sometimes the courts are more or less, do I use the word intimidated? I apologise if I use that, it may be too strong on the judges that are my friends and that I know. But sometimes they are more or less faced by that kind of opposition noise.”
He cited the Labour Party leadership crisis as an example of the opposition manufacturing grievances against the ruling party.
“Somebody comes from nowhere, hijacks a party. You are now struggling and wrestling the party with people who were there before. This has nothing to do with APC. APC did not tell you to go there. APC has no hand in telling you to go and hijack somebody’s party. Once the court says, ‘no, it’s not you now,’ they say ‘APC, you are a one party state.”
Keyamo accused the opposition and sections of the press of fostering a narrative that democracy only exists when certain candidates are on the ballot.
“It’s only when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is on the ballot that there is democracy, right? It’s only when Peter Obi and others are on the ballot. Whereas there are questions about the registration. APC has no hand in it. The matters were even in court before they went there. Before we came, we had nothing to do with it.”
When asked for his prediction ahead of the 2027 general election, Keyamo, who served as spokesperson for both former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, offered a confident assessment.
“I’ve been back-to-back spokesperson for two major presidents. Both for President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu. And just allow me the modesty to talk my chest a bit. I’ve never lost an election speaking for the presidents. And so because of that, I want to understand the demography of this country very well.”
He analysed Peter Obi’s 2023 performance, arguing that the Labour Party candidate’s votes came from Christian sentiment and Igbo ethnic mobilisation, not from an organised political movement.
“He ran on the platform of Christian sentiment and the Igbo sentiment. These people who call themselves ‘Obedient’, there’s no group like Obedient. It’s just some noisemakers on TikTok and social media. They are claiming the credit for what the Christians and the Igbo votes did for them in 2023. There’s no political group like Obedient.”
Keyamo argued that the religious factor that boosted Obi’s performance in 2023 has now dissipated.
“Those factors, the fear of Christianity, because of all the major candidates, he was the only Christian candidate, are all gone now. All the candidates then—Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, President Bola Tinubu—were all Muslims. So all the Christians rallied around him because of the fear of marginalisation.”
He said that concern no longer resonates. “If anybody is talking about Muslim-Muslim ticket now, today, it’s only the press just trying to play it up. In the minds of Nigerians, it has disappeared because that fear no longer exists.”
Keyamo also dismissed the prospects of Atiku Abubakar, arguing that the PDP presidential candidate has lost the political structure that delivered his votes in 2023.
“Atiku Abubakar, the structure upon which he ran, which is the PDP, he disappeared. He left the PDP with no governor. All the governors that gave him that 6.7 million votes, that took him to second place, all those governors, where are they? The governors are the structure of the party. The governors are all unable to achieve what you need. All the governors that fought for Atiku Abubakar, all except Bala Mohammef. Bala Mohammed has even left. He’s not in the party with him. So there’s no governor, nobody with him. All those people are with the President.”
His final assessment was unequivocal. “Do you need a soothsayer to tell you that 2027 is a coronation? It’s not an election. It’s a coronation.”
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