Tinubu nominates four INEC national commissioners and two RECs ahead of 2027 polls

Updated 09:12 WAT, 20 Oct 2026: The ADC has asked the Senate to reject the North-West nominee, Professor Mustapha Aliu, saying he is the Sokoto governor’s brother; the Sokoto government confirmed the family tie but says he holds no party post.

President Bola Tinubu has nominated four National Commissioners and two Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), three months before the presidential and National Assembly elections. One of the four, Dr Bala Bila, is a serving commissioner who has been reappointed.

The nominations were announced on Friday, 16 October 2026, in a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. They fill vacancies left by commissioners whose tenures are expiring, and all six nominees must be confirmed by the Senate before they can take office.

Why does it matter?

Under the Constitution, INEC is made up of a chairman, currently Professor Joash Amupitan, and 12 National Electoral Commissioners, with a Resident Electoral Commissioner for each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The commission organises the elections and registers voters and political parties, and it can hand some of its powers to the RECs, who manage its work in the states.

The new commissioners would join the commission in the final stretch before the vote. Under INEC’s revised timetable, the presidential and National Assembly elections hold on Saturday, 16 January 2027, and the governorship and State House of Assembly elections on Saturday, 6 February 2027. By GistMatrix’s count, the presidential election is 91 days away.

The President urged the Senate to speed up the confirmations because of the general elections next January, the statement said. INEC has already displayed the voter register for public checks and set up a unit to detect deepfakes before the polls.

Who has been nominated?

The four nominees for National Commissioner, according to the State House statement, are:

• Professor Mustapha Aliu (North-West), to replace Professor Abdullahi Zuru;
• Bashir Muhammed Umar (North-Central), to replace Professor Muhammad Adamu;
• Dr Bala Bila (North-East), reappointed;
• Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola (South-West), currently the REC for Osun State, to replace Professor Cornelius Ajayi, whose tenure expires on 24 October.

The two nominees for Resident Electoral Commissioner are:

• Dr Samuel Akinjide Akinleye, a retired permanent secretary, for Ekiti State;
• Zahradden Basiru Sanusi, for Jigawa State, to replace Professor Saidu Ahmed Babura.

The statement did not give fuller backgrounds for the nominees, or say who would take over as REC in Osun if Babalola is confirmed.

Why is one nominee being challenged?

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has asked the Senate to reject Professor Mustapha Aliu, the North-West nominee, saying he is a maternal brother of the Sokoto State governor, Ahmad Aliyu, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Some reports spell the nominee’s surname Aliyu.

“Electoral referees must not only be impartial, they must be seen to be impartial,” the ADC’s spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a post on X on Sunday, 18 October. The party cited section 156(1)(a) of the Constitution, which it said bars members of INEC from belonging to a political party. It did not say that Aliu is a party member. The ADC’s governorship candidate in Sokoto, Manir Dan’iya, has also asked the President to reconsider the nomination.

The Sokoto State Government confirmed the family tie but rejected the objection. “Professor Mustapha Aliyu remains a brother to Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto,” the governor’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Faruku Labbo, said in a statement on Sunday. He said the nominee “is not holding any position in the All Progressives Congress at any level”, called him a distinguished academic, and said a family relationship alone does not disqualify anyone. No response from the Presidency or the Senate had been reported by Tuesday morning.

The Senate has turned down an INEC nominee before. In July 2021, it rejected Lauretta Onochie, then an aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, as a National Commissioner after petitions alleged she was a party member, which she denied. The screening committee based its decision on the federal character principle, because a serving commissioner was already from her home state, Delta, according to the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).

How are INEC commissioners appointed?

Section 154 of the 1999 Constitution says the chairman and members of INEC are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Under section 155, they hold office for five years from the date of their appointment.

The Third Schedule sets the basic requirements: National Commissioners and RECs must be people of unquestionable integrity and at least 40 years old. The same schedule lists INEC’s main duties, from organising elections and registering voters to monitoring party campaigns and auditing party finances.

What happens next

• Senate screening: senators will screen the six nominees and vote on their confirmation. No date has been announced. The ADC wants them to reject Aliu, and the Sokoto government says he is qualified.
• Saturday, 24 October: Professor Cornelius Ajayi’s tenure as the South-West National Commissioner ends.
• Saturday, 16 January 2027: presidential and National Assembly elections.
• Saturday, 6 February 2027: governorship and State House of Assembly elections.

Do you know any of the nominees, or have a question about how INEC works? Tell GistMatrix.