Former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mike Igini, has declared that he regrets spending ten years working with the electoral body.

Igini made the statement while reflecting on his years of service and the challenges he faced in Nigeria’s election system.

He said his efforts to reform the process and protect the credibility of the ballot were met with resistance and danger.

“I spent over 30 years of my life, including 10 practical years in INEC, working to remove the history of our elections from the realm of frustration and pain, so we can give meaning and purpose to the ballot as the best means of expressing the will of the people in a democracy,” Igini said.

“To now find out that all that we did was in vain, that’s why I regret that I wasted my 10 years in service of the fatherland because I’d have been a dead man by now.

“However, I would have been a dead man pursuing this cause; my colleague in Kano was killed because we wanted to do the right thing for Nigeria. His entire family wiped out.”

He revealed that attempts to conduct elections transparently exposed officials to serious risks, including assassination.

According to him, those who tried to uphold fairness often became targets because of powerful interests opposed to free and credible elections.

Igini also warned against proposed changes to the Electoral Act. He said such amendments could further endanger presiding officers at polling units.

He noted that these officials are already vulnerable and should not be placed in positions where their lives could be threatened for enforcing the law.

The former commissioner criticised what he described as deep hypocrisy within Nigeria’s political and electoral environment. He said many public figures speak about democracy but act against it when elections approach.

Igini stressed that protecting the ballot must remain a national priority. He added that democracy can only work when the votes of citizens are respected and not manipulated.