‘No mandate from fraud’: Igini asks US to tie policy to Nigeria’s elections, sanction offenders

A former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mike Igini, has written an open letter to United States President Donald Trump, urging his administration to make the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 general election a condition for diplomatic engagement and immigration policy.

The letter, dated November 13, 2026, and titled “No Mandate From Fraud Election 2027: A Policy – Using Electoral Integrity To Reduce Illegal Immigration From Nigeria,” proposes a “No Mandate Fraud” doctrine and a series of measures aimed at preventing electoral manipulation, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE CORE ARGUMENT

Igini’s letter makes a simple but powerful argument: Nigerians are not fleeing their country because they do not love it.

They are fleeing because their leaders have failed them, and those leaders were produced by a flawed electoral system.

“Nigerians are not leaving Nigeria because they do not love their country. They are leaving because of decades of persistent electoral malpractice, corruption, insecurity and weak public accountability that have undermined Nigerians’ confidence in government,” he wrote.

He argued that border enforcement alone cannot solve the migration crisis. “Mr President, border enforcement alone cannot solve this. We must address the cause at the source” .

THE PROPOSALS

Igini proposed five major measures.

First, he urged the United States to dispatch a high-level delegation to Nigeria to engage President Bola Tinubu, presidential and governorship candidates, INEC, political parties, and other institutions. The delegation should make clear that credible elections are a fundamental US interest connected to bilateral relations, migration, and regional stability.

Second, he called for visa restrictions and, where legally justified, targeted financial sanctions and asset freezes against electoral officials, including INEC’s chairman, national commissioners, resident electoral commissioners, and ad hoc personnel — found through credible evidence to have manipulated results or falsified electoral records.

Third, he said judicial independence must not become a shield for corruption or the subversion of electoral justice. He urged the US to consider sanctions against judicial officers whose misconduct in electoral matters is established through credible evidence .

Fourth, he called for accountability for security personnel, the police, DSS, armed forces, and NSCDC, whose actions facilitated voter intimidation, electoral violence, or suppression of opposition parties.

Fifth, he urged the US to support credible domestic and international election observers to monitor the process before, during, and after the 2027 elections, focusing on voter intimidation, the neutrality of security personnel, publication of polling-unit results, transparent collation, and resolution of electoral disputes.

THE AMERICA-FIRST CASE

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Igini framed his proposals as consistent with Trump’s America-First policy. He identified reduced migration pressure, protection of US resources, improved security cooperation, and stronger economic relations as potential benefits.

A stable and democratically accountable Nigeria, he argued, would be a stronger partner for the US in tackling terrorism, organised crime, and regional insecurity.

WHY IT MATTERS

Mike Igini has spent his career inside Nigeria’s electoral system. He knows where the bodies are buried, because he was one of the few officials who refused to bury them.

His letter to Trump is an act of desperation, and an act of faith. He is asking a foreign president to do what Nigerian institutions have failed to do: hold the people who rig elections accountable.

There is a bitter irony in the request. A sovereign nation should not need external pressure to conduct credible elections. But Nigeria is not a normal sovereign nation. Its electoral commission is compromised. Its judiciary is compromised. Its security agencies are compromised.

And the people who benefit from this system have no incentive to fix it.Igini’s proposals, visa bans, asset freezes, sanctions, are the tools of coercive diplomacy.

They are not a substitute for domestic accountability. They are a supplement for a system that has failed.

The letter has been sent. The White House has not responded. And Nigeria’s 2027 election is approaching, with or without Trump’s intervention. ValidViewNetwork reports.