Eyo Esua

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Eyo Esua

|image =

|office1 = Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission

|term_start1 = 1964

|term_end1 = 1966

|predecessor1 =

|successor1 = Michael Ani

|birth_name = Eyo Ita Esua

|birth_date = 14 January 1901

|birth_place = Cross River State, Nigeria

|death_date = {{death date and age|6 December 1973|df=y|14 January 1901}}

|party =

|Educational background =

}}

Eyo Ita Esua (14 January 1901 – 6 December 1973) was a Nigerian teacher and trade unionist who was at the helm of the Balewa's government's Federal Electoral Commission in the Nigerian First Republic.{{cite web

|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201006090203.html

|title=Past INEC Chairmen

|work=ThisDay

|author=Imam Imam

|date=9 June 2010

|accessdate=2010-06-10}}

Esua was a school master and a founder member of the Nigeria Union of Teachers. He was the first full-time general secretary of the union from 1943 until his retirement in 1964.{{cite book

|page=32

|title=Thomas Hodgkin: letters from Africa 1947-56

|author1=Thomas Lionel Hodgkin |author2=Elizabeth Hodgkin |author3=Michael Wolfers |publisher=HAAN

|year=2000

|ISBN=1-874209-93-6}}

He was an Efik, Calabar man, renowned for his dedication to duty and uprightness.{{cite book

|title=Violence and politics in Nigeria: the Tiv and Yoruba experience

|url=https://archive.org/details/violencepolitics00anif_0

|url-access=registration

|author=Remi Anifowose

|publisher=Nok Publishers International

|year=1982

|ISBN=0-88357-084-X}}

The Esua-led commission organized the December 1964 election, which was mired in controversy.

Two members of the commission disagreed with the chairman and resigned from the commission.

Esua also conducted the 1965 Western Region election, which was violent and was disputed by the opposition United Party Grand Alliance.{{cite web

|url=http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/49282/1/Will-he-make-the-difference/Page1.html

|title=Will he make the difference?

|author=Olukorede Yishau

|work=The Nation

|date=2010-06-09

|accessdate=2010-06-10

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611103634/http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/49282/1/Will-he-make-the-difference/Page1.html

|archive-date=2010-06-11

|url-status=dead

}}

A few days before these elections Esua acknowledged that his organisation could not guarantee a free and fair poll.{{cite book

|page=39

|title=The Biafra war: Nigeria and the aftermath

|author=Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

|ISBN=0-88946-175-9

|publisher=E. Mellen Press

|year=1990}}

The widespread electoral abuses may have been a factor in the success of the military coup of January 1966 in which Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi came to power.{{cite web

|url=http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/26106/1/electoral-commission-through-the-years.html

|title=ELECTORAL COMMISSION THROUGH THE YEARS

|work=NBF News

|date=7 Jun 2010

|accessdate=2010-06-10}}