Nigeria Is Slipping Into Electoral Autocracy — LPPMC Issues Ultimatum to INEC, Demands National Reset

Democracy in Nigeria is at a breaking point, according to the Liberal Progressive & Patriotic Members Congress (LPPMC), which has declared that the country is now operating as an electoral autocracy — where votes are cast, but the people no longer choose their leaders. In a strongly-worded communiqué released on June 12, 2025, the group warned that unless urgent institutional reforms are enacted, Nigeria could “lose itself completely.”

The document, signed by LPPMC’s National Coordinator, Dr. Kingsley Okundaye, and 21 other national leaders, accused the judiciary and political elite of hijacking democracy through rigged polls and judicial compromise. “When courts legitimize electoral heists, democracy turns into tyranny,” the Congress stated, adding that a constitutional amendment is underway to ensure electoral petition rulings must be concluded within 90 days, and judges found to have aided electoral fraud face criminal sanctions.

Citing the controversial 2023 general elections, the group argued that rigging has been normalized, and election outcomes manipulated long before ballots are cast. It called for a biometric audit of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s voter register, full adoption of blockchain voting systems, and real-time live-streaming of all collation processes nationwide to restore transparency.

The Congress condemned INEC’s silence on multiple allegations of voter suppression, inflated voter rolls, and result tampering. It gave INEC a firm ultimatum to clean its voter register by August 30, 2025, and commence a nationwide voter education campaign by September 12, 2025. “INEC’s credibility is dead, and only radical transparency can bring it back to life,” the communiqué declared.

On political party accountability, LPPMC criticized the Labour Party for what it called a “total hijack by political predators,” and warned that the failure of existing opposition parties has exposed the need for a broad reform coalition. It proposed the formation of a 37-State Coalition for Electoral Integrity by July 1, 2025, to mobilize civil society, legal experts, and citizens for electoral reforms.

As part of its grassroots strategy, LPPMC will launch a Democracy Literacy Campaign across all 774 local government areas. The campaign aims to educate voters on civic rights, electoral laws, and the dangers of judicial compromise. The group also pledged to reserve 40% of all internal leadership positions for women and youth, to reflect “a genuine generational and gender shift.”

The communiqué emphasized that Nigeria’s 25 years of uninterrupted democracy have failed to solve persistent regional inequality, especially northern underrepresentation. LPPMC is calling for constitutional entrenchment of power rotation between the North and South, and between Christian and Muslim blocs, warning that the current structure is unsustainable and unjust.