APC Rep Primaries: Oroh calls for electoral reforms to restore people’s confidence

By Jethro Ibileke

A former member of the House of Representatives, Abdul Oroh, has called for a holistic reform of Nigeria’s electoral process, to empower the people to nominate and elect those who represent them at all levels of government, rather than political executives.

The former journalist and human rights activist who made the call on Saturday, May 16, 2026, noted that it would restore the confidence of the people in the electoral system.

He said that the issue remains one of the major challenges confronting political leadership and electoral processes in the country.

Oroh who contested the APC primary for the Owan Federal Constituency seat but lost to the alleged ‘preferred candidate’ of the party, however noted that the challenges associated with election management, particularly intra-party primaries, are not peculiar to the APC alone.

He said: “I am a scholar on election issues. I know how elections are won and lost in Nigeria, as well as the factors that make it possible for someone to win or lose an election.

“I also know the problems with election management in Nigeria, especially as it affects intra-party elections, which are the primary elections.

“It is one of those issues that we need to address in the process of leadership elections, either by reviewing the legal framework or finding better ways to conduct the process. What we are seeing now is not peculiar to the APC.”

Oroh alleged that aspirants are often pressured to commit huge financial resources, compromise their principles, or engage in practices they ordinarily would not consider if the electoral process were free, fair, and transparent.

“There are also enormous pressures from the executives. How can the executive determine who becomes a legislator? It is the people who should choose those who will oversee the Executive. But in Nigeria, it is the other way round.

“These realities have complicated the process and made it difficult to have an electoral system that satisfies the majority of the people. We still need to reform the process,” he added.