ADC raises alarm over INEC voter data, says ‘2027 polls in danger’

…queries Osun’s 393,000 new voters in one week, demands a forensic audit

By Luminous Jannamike

ABUJA — The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has warned that Nigeria’s 2027 general elections could be compromised if what it called ‘statistically implausible’ voter registration figures recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are not urgently addressed.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the figures from Osun State and the South-West zone defied both historical patterns and demographic realities, raising doubts about the credibility of the electoral process.

According to the ADC, INEC’s report showed that Osun State recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week.

The party pointed out that this figure was higher than the 275,815 new voters recorded in the state over the entire four-year period between 2019 and 2023.

“Even at its peak of political mobilisation in 2022, Osun has never produced more than 823,124 votes cast in a governorship election. Now, by some miracle, nearly 20 percent of all eligible adults in the state have rushed to register. This is not just unusual; it is statistically implausible,” the statement read.

The ADC also noted that the South-West zone alone accounted for 848,359 pre-registrations, representing 67 percent of the national total. By comparison, the South-East recorded just 1,998 pre-registrations, while five states: Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Adamawa, recorded a combined total of 4,153.

“These fantastic figures suggest either another technical glitch in INEC’s digital registration system, or a more troubling possibility of deliberate manipulation of data to prepare the ground for a sinister agenda in the coming elections. In either case, INEC has explanations to give,” Abdullahi said.

Warning that the voter register formed the foundation of elections, the ADC stressed that anomalies in the data could undermine public trust in the democratic process.

“We must be clear: the voter register is the foundation of the entire electoral process. If the foundation is compromised, it raises questions about the integrity of the elections. Nigerians still remember the bitter consequences of flawed voter rolls and technical glitches in past elections. Our democracy cannot withstand another one,” the party cautioned.

The ADC called on INEC to urgently conduct and publish a forensic audit of the first-week registration data, including a state-by-state breakdown of both physical and online registrations.

It also urged the commission to release server logs, bandwidth distribution records, and regional access reports for the registration portal.

“We call on all opposition political parties to set aside rivalry and jointly demand clarity from INEC on these glaring anomalies. We also urge election monitoring groups, fact-checking organisations, and legal advocacy bodies to independently interrogate these numbers and press for accountability,” it stated.

The party further invited the international community to take early interest in the developments.

“We also invite our partners in the international community; the United Nations, the African Union, ECOWAS, and Nigeria’s democratic allies, to take early interest in these developments, as the credibility of the 2027 elections begins with the integrity of the voter register,” it added.

The ADC warned that ignoring such red flags could destabilise the country.

“Silence in the face of these anomalies would amount to complicity. History has shown that when questions about the voter register are left unanswered, the consequences go beyond politics; they touch on national stability itself. The time to act is now,” the party warned.

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