Professor Humphrey Nwosu (born 2 October 1941) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) appointed by President
Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Ch ...
, holding office from 1989 to 1993.
Birth and early career
Nwosu was born on 2 October 1941, and became a professor of political science at the
University of Nigeria
The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has thr ...
,
Nsukka
Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo.
The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively re ...
.
He served in the cabinet of
Samson Omeruah
Samson Emeka Omeruah (14 August 1943 – 4 December 2006) was an air commodore of the Nigerian Air Force,[Anambra State
Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi State ...]
, where he helped traditional rulers to gain staffs of office and receive salaries, and settled intra and inter community land disputes.
He also served as chairman of a Federal Technical Committee on the application of Civil Service Reforms in the local government service.
He was appointed NEC chairman in 1989 after his predecessor (and former mentor)
Eme Awa resigned due to a disagreement with Ibrahim Babangida.
12 June 1993 elections
Nwosu conducted the 12 June 1993 election,
which was seen as the freest and fairest election to date, in which Chief
Moshood Abiola
Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola , also known as M. K. O. Abiola (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) was a Nigerian businessman, publisher, and politician. He was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland and an aristocrat of the Egba clan.
M.K. ...
was presumed to have won. Nwosu's commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the
Open ballot system
An open ballot system is a voting method in which voters vote openly, in contrast to a secret ballot, where a voter's choices are confidential.
The open ballot system was the norm prior to Australia adopting the secret ballot in 1856. It was als ...
.
[
Nwosu had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime.
In 2008 he published a book in which he claimed that Babangida was not to blame for annulling the election.
The book was severely criticized for failing to accurately account for what happened.][
]
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwosu, Humphrey
Living people
1941 births
Academic staff of the University of Nigeria