2027: INEC’s Southwest pre-registration show polls are in danger — ADC

The African Democratic Congress, ADC has warned that the pre-registration figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from Osun State and other States defied historical patterns and demographic patterns, raising doubts about the credibility of the electoral process.

Given the ‘statistically implausible’, the ADC said the 2027 general election could be compromised if the voter registration figures released by the electoral umpire are not urgently addressed.

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In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, raised doubts about the process leading to electoral process.

The ADC said INEC’s report showed that Osun State recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week, pointing 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.

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“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 per cent 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 voters’ register forms 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 voters’ 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.

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