The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review its use of politically exposed academics as Returning and Collation Officers in the 2027 general elections.
The party made the call following a report that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities across Northern Nigeria had endorsed President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.
A statement on Monday, by ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said while academics have the constitutional right to support any candidate, those who openly take partisan positions should not subsequently be entrusted with collating results or declaring winners in an election involving their preferred candidate.
The party said the development raised concerns about electoral credibility and potential conflicts of interest, given the established practice of appointing university lecturers and vice chancellors to sensitive election duties.
“You cannot campaign for a candidate and then be entrusted with counting the votes and declaring winners in the same election that your candidate is contesting in,” the ADC said.
The party called on INEC to establish and publish clear criteria excluding academics and other prospective election officials who had publicly endorsed candidates, participated in partisan activities or demonstrated obvious political affiliations.
The ADC also urged the commission to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers sufficiently ahead of the elections to enable political parties and members of the public to identify and raise legitimate conflict-of-interest concerns.
“The integrity of an election does not begin when the first ballot is cast. It begins with the neutrality of the people entrusted to administer, collate, and declare its outcome,” the party said.
The opposition party warned that Nigerians should not be placed in a position where persons who had publicly chosen a political side were subsequently presented as neutral arbiters of the electoral contest.
