Odinkalu says electoral mandate illegitimacy fuels Nigeria's insecurity surge
Former NHRC Chairman Prof Chidi Odinkalu told Arise Television on Thursday, July 8, 2026 that the single biggest source of Nigeria's insecurity is the illegitimacy of electoral mandates. He explained that when citizens realize their votes don't count and courts deliver bought judgments, they turn to violence and vigilantism instead of trusting state institutions. Odinkalu made these remarks during Nigeria's ongoing debate about establishing state police to combat rising insecurity. He warned that pursuing policing solutions without first addressing electoral legitimacy would merely create new problems, stating we cannot discuss security while ignoring the foundational issue of whether electoral mandates reflect the people's will. The core argument is that lasting security requires fixing the legitimacy deficit in elections before any policing reforms can work effectively.
This analysis shifts the insecurity conversation from symptom treatment to root cause: if people don't believe the system yields fair outcomes through ballots, no amount of policing will convince them to reject bullets. Odinkalu frames electoral legitimacy as the prerequisite diagnosis before prescribing security solutions like state police. His warning implies that current insecurity debates risk treating symptoms while the disease of electoral illegitimacy remains untreated, potentially worsening public distrust in institutions meant to provide security.
If electoral legitimacy remains broken, will increasing police presence through state police or other measures actually reduce insecurity, or will it simply deepen the cycle of distrust and violence as citizens view security forces as enforcers of an illegitimate system?