Voters, not courts, must decide elections

The 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference in Enugu examined forces shaping Nigeria's democracy ahead of the 2027 general elections under the theme "The Ballot, the Media and the Task of Keeping Democracy Alive," with a sub-theme on detecting and debunking AI disinformation. The Independent National Electoral Commission participated, with its chairman, Joash Amupitan, represented by the Enugu Resident Electoral Commissioner, Chukwuemeka Chukwu. John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Afam Osigwe (SAN) both addressed the conference, converging on the view that elections should be decided by voters at polling units rather than retrospectively by judges. Onaiyekan proposed reforms including a new method for appointing INEC leadership, specialised election tribunals, and concluding major petitions before inauguration, while Osigwe presented a paper titled "Election Petitions in the Digital Age: Independence, Evidence, BVAS and the Courts."

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