The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review its policy on the appointment of politically exposed academics as Returning and Collation Officers for the 2027 general elections.
The party’s demand followed a newspaper report that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities across Northern Nigeria had endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for re-election in 2027.
The ADC said the reported endorsement raised questions about electoral credibility and potential conflicts of interest, particularly because university lecturers and vice chancellors have routinely been appointed by INEC to perform sensitive roles in the collation of election results and declaration of winners.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi on Monday, the party acknowledged the constitutional right of lecturers and other Nigerians to support or endorse political candidates of their choice.
However, it argued that academics who had publicly taken partisan positions should not subsequently be appointed to positions requiring neutrality in an election involving the candidate they had endorsed.
The party said the principle was straightforward: “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 consequently called on INEC to establish and publish clear criteria for selecting Returning and Collation Officers, including provisions that would exclude academics and other prospective election officials who had publicly endorsed candidates, participated in partisan political activities or demonstrated an obvious political affiliation.
The opposition party also asked the electoral commission to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers sufficiently ahead of the elections.
According to the ADC, such disclosure would enable political parties, candidates and members of the public to identify potential conflicts of interest and raise legitimate objections before the elections.
The party said the issue was particularly important because the credibility of an election depended not only on the voting process but also on the neutrality and integrity of officials responsible for collating and declaring results.
“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.
It added that Nigerians should not be placed in a situation where individuals who had publicly chosen a political side were subsequently presented as neutral arbiters in the same electoral contest.
The ADC’s position comes as political parties and other stakeholders intensify preparations for the 2027 general elections, with concerns over the neutrality of electoral officials, transparency and public confidence expected to remain major issues.
While the reported endorsement by the lecturers does not, by itself, establish that any of them will be appointed as Returning or Collation Officers, the ADC said INEC should act proactively to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
The party maintained that clear eligibility and disclosure rules would help strengthen confidence in the electoral process and prevent avoidable disputes over the credibility of results.
It urged INEC to ensure that all officials appointed to sensitive electoral positions are not only professionally qualified but also demonstrably impartial in the contests in which they are required to administer or declare results.
