2027: Avoid partisan lecturers as returning officers, ADC tells INEC

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

African Democratic Congress has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately review the use of politically exposed academics as Returning and Collation Officers in the 2027 general elections.

The ADC made the call following a newspaper report that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities across Northern Nigeria have endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.

The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the development raises a fundamental question of electoral credibility and conflict of interest, particularly because university lecturers and vice chancellors have routinely been entrusted with the sensitive responsibility of collating election results and declaring winners.

While acknowledging the constitutional right of every Nigerian, including academics, to support or endorse any political candidate, the party said no person who has openly taken a partisan position should subsequently be entrusted with determining the outcome of an election involving that candidate.

The principle, the ADC said, is straightforward:

According to the statement, “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 party, therefore, called on INEC to establish and publish clear criteria, disqualifying academics and other prospective election officials who have publicly endorsed candidates, participated in partisan political activities, or otherwise demonstrated an obvious political affiliation.

It also urged INEC to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers sufficiently ahead of the elections to allow political parties and 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. Nigerians must never be placed in a position where those who have publicly chosen a side are subsequently presented as neutral arbiters of the contest,” the party said.