Anugbum Onuoha, a former assistant and cousin of Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, has been reassigned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the next Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Akwa Ibom State.
The INEC office in Akwa Ibom announced the change of leadership in a post on its verified Facebook and X accounts. It stated that on April 17, Mr. Onuoha took over from the departing REC, Obo Effanga, at the commission’s state headquarters in Uyo.
Pictures of Mr. Effanga and Mr. Onuoha from the handover occasion were included with the post.
Mr. Onuoha, a professor of property and secured credit law, oversaw the 2024 governorship election while serving as the REC in Edo State. In what seems to be a standard administrative redeployment, Mr. Effanga, who has been serving in Akwa Ibom since 2025, would now oversee INEC matters in Edo.
Transfers of RECs continue to be a standard procedure in the commission’s internal administration, even if the INEC headquarters in Abuja has not yet posted information about the redeployment on its official website or social media accounts. The database of the states that each REC serves has not yet been updated by INEC.
However, in the meantime, his nomination, especially in Akwa Ibom, a state known for its hotly contested elections, and other recommendations (RECs) has raised a few eyebrows due to allegations of partisanship by several appointees.
Anugbum Onuoha records
There has periodically been controversy about Mr. Onuoha’s employment within INEC due to his close political and familial links to Mr. Wike.
In response to previous calls by Edo’s opposition parties for his removal prior to the 2024 elections, he maintained that the electoral commission’s structure restricts the ability of individual commissioners to rig elections.
President Bola Tinubu also had, in the past, selected 10 RECs in 2023, including Mr. Onuoha, who had worked for Mr. Wike as a special adviser on lands and surveys for the Rivers State Government.
ENigeria Newspaper also recalled that in 2007, while former Governor Rotimi Amaechi was in office, he also held the position of commissioner for legal and political party supervision at the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
He was promoted to the customary leadership position in Rumuepirikom, Mr. Wike‘s homeland in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, after working for him.
