Chief Sumner Karibi Dagogo-Jack (born 1930) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) appointed by President
Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...
, holding office from 1994 to 1998.
Dagogo-Jack served as a member of the
Humphrey Nwosu
Professor Humphrey Nwosu (born 2 October 1941) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida, holding office from 1989 to 1993.
Birth and early career
Nwosu was born on 2 October 1941, and becam ...
electoral commission (1989–1993) and was later appointed chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria.
His commission was reportedly not impartial, but was controlled by Abacha.
Under Dagogo-Jack, NECON registered five political associations, none led by credible politicians.
These were
United Nigeria Congress Party The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) was a Nigerian political party. It was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, in ...
(UNCP),
Congress for National Consensus
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
(CNC),
Democratic Party of Nigeria
The Peoples Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with its main rival, the All Progressives Congress.
Its policies generally lie towards the centre-right of the political spectrum. It won ev ...
(DPN),
National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and
Grassroots Democratic Movement
The Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) was a Nigerian political party that was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, a ...
(GDM). The purpose was to ensure that Abacha would become the sole presidential candidate, supported by all parties.
The commission conducted elections for the local government councils and the National Assembly.
[
NECON overstepped the bounds of its authority in some cases. For example, shortly before the March 1997 local government elections, Dagogo-Jack nullified the positions of National Leader in the NCPN and National Coordinator in the DPN, which he said were in violation of the parties' constitutions.]
The elected officers had not been inaugurated when Abacha died suddenly in June 1998, and his successor Abdulsalami Abubakar
Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...
initiated a fresh electoral process that would lead to the establishment of the Nigerian Fourth Republic
The Fourth Republic is the current republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Second Republic, which was in place between 1979 an ...
in May 1999.[
Dagogo-Jack hails from Abonnema, in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. His brother Samuel Dagogo-Jack is a medical practitioner based in the US, while his much younger brother, Beks Dagogo-Jack serves as the Chairman of the ]Presidential Task Force on Power
The Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) was established by the President of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's administration, in June 2010, to drive the implementation of the reform of Ni ...
under the Nigerian Presidency.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagogo-Jack, Sumner
1930 births
Living people
Rivers State civil servants
Rivers State politicians
Nigerian civil servants