Sumner Dagogo-Jack

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Sumner Karibi Dagogo-Jack

|image =

|office1 = Chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria

|term_start1 = 1994

|term_end1 = 1998

|predecessor1 = Okon Uya

|successor1 = Ephraim Akpata

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1930|}}

|birth_place = Abonnema, Akuku-Toru LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria

|death_date =

|party =

|Educational background =

}}

Chief Sumner Karibi Dagogo-Jack (born 1930) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) appointed by President Sani Abacha, holding office from 1994 to 1998.{{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}}

Dagogo-Jack served as a member of the Humphrey Nwosu electoral commission (1989–1993) and was later appointed chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria.{{Cite news

|title=From Esua to Iwu, who will rescue Nigeria?

|date=2 May 2010

|author=Muyiwa Oyinlola

|work=Nigerian Compass

}}

His commission was reportedly not impartial, but was controlled by Abacha.{{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 June 2010

|accessdate=2010-06-10}}

Under Dagogo-Jack, NECON registered five political associations, none led by credible politicians.

These were United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). The purpose was to ensure that Abacha would become the sole presidential candidate, supported by all parties.{{cite web

|url=http://news.biafranigeriaworld.com/archive/2003/may/11/091.html

|title=INEC: How has the umpire fared?

|work=BNW News

|author=DAYO BENSON

|date=11 May 2003

|accessdate=2010-06-10}}

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.{{cite web

|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,NGA,,3ae6a8314,0.html

|title=Transition or Travesty: Nigeria's Endless Process of Return to Civilian Rule

|publisher=Human Rights Watch

|date=1 October 1997

|accessdate=2010-06-10}}

The elected officers had not been inaugurated when Abacha died suddenly in June 1998, and his successor Abdulsalami Abubakar initiated a fresh electoral process that would lead to the establishment of the Nigerian Fourth Republic 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 under the Nigerian Presidency.