The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prevent university lecturers with known partisan affiliations from serving as returning and collation officers during the 2027 general elections.
The party made the demand in a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, following reports that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities in northern Nigeria had openly endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s bid for another term.
The ADC said the development had raised concerns about the neutrality of university academics who are often selected to serve as election officials.
According to the party, appointing academics who have publicly expressed political preferences could undermine confidence in the electoral process and create conflicts of interest, particularly because lecturers and vice-chancellors can be involved in the collation of results and declaration of winners.
The ADC acknowledged that academics, like other Nigerian citizens, have a constitutional right to support or endorse political candidates.
However, the party argued that anyone who has publicly declared support for a candidate should not be involved in collating or announcing results in an election in which that candidate is participating.
“It would be inappropriate for someone who has campaigned for a candidate to be responsible for counting votes and declaring results in that same election,” the statement read.
The ADC urged INEC to develop and publish clear guidelines that would prevent academics and other prospective election officials who have publicly endorsed candidates, taken part in political campaigns or demonstrated obvious partisan affiliations from being appointed.
The party also asked INEC to release the names of proposed returning and collation officers well ahead of the election to promote transparency.
According to the ADC, early publication of the list would allow political parties and members of the public to scrutinise the proposed officials and raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
“The integrity of any election begins with the neutrality of those overseeing the process, long before the first ballot is cast,” the statement added.
“Nigerians deserve election officials whose impartiality is beyond question,” the party stated.
