Professor Humphrey Nwosu (born 2 October 1941) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida

Ibrahim Babangida

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida CFR DSS mni , popularly known as IBB, was a Nigerian Army officer and military ruler of Nigeria...

, holding office from 1989 to 1993.

Birth and early career

Nwosu was born on 2 October 1941, and became a Professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria

University of Nigeria

The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Founded in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has four campuses – Nsukka, Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla – located in Enugu State and one in Aba, Abia...

, Nsukka

Nsukka

Nsukka is a town and Local Government Area in South-East Nigeria in Enugu State. Other towns that share common border with Nsukka, such as Enugu Ezike, Orba and Obollo-Afor , Ede-Oballa, Uzo Uwani and Mkpologwu, now also claim the name Nsukka, hence they all collectively fall into the political...

.
He served in the cabinet of Samson Omeruah, governor of the old Anambra State

Anambra State

Anambra is a state in south-eastern Nigeria. Its name is an anglicized version of the original 'Oma Mbala', the native name of the Anambra River. The Capital and the Seat of Government is Awka. Onitsha and Nnewi are the biggest commercial and industrial cities, respectively. The state's theme is...

, where he helped traditional rulers to gain staffs of office and receive salaries, and settled intra and inter community land disputes.
He also served as chairman of a Federal Technical Committee on the application of Civil Service Reforms in the local government service.
He was appointed FEDECO chairman in 1989 after his predecessor (and former mentor) Eme Awa

Eme Awa

Professor Eme Awa was chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria , appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida...

 resigned due to a disagreement with Ibrahim Babangida.

12 June 1993 elections

Nwosu conducted the 12 June 1993 election, which was seen as the freest and fairest election to date, in which Chief Moshood Abiola was presumed to have won. Nwosu's commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open Ballot System.
Nwosu had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime.
In 2008 he published a book in which he claimed that Babangida was not to blame for annulling the election.
The book was severely criticized for failing to accurately account for what happened.