He made this known at the Foreign Policy Lecture Series titled Elections and Democracy in Africa, organised by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) in Lagos. Jinadu linked the challenges to what he described as a toxic political environment and a growing amoral political culture in some African countries, especially Nigeria, where he said politics had increasingly become criminalised. He argued that while independent electoral management bodies were important, they alone could not guarantee credible elections without a supportive political culture and strong accountability institutions. According to him, the factors create conditions where even the deployment of advanced technology and technical expertise by electoral bodies may fail to deliver credible elections. He warned that excessive focus on constitutional design and electoral reforms, without addressing the moral foundations of political culture, would limit democratic progress.

Source: The Guardian February 10, 2026 11:49 UTC