ADC Challenges INEC: No Room for Partisan Professors in 2027 Polls

An election can be perfectly peaceful at the polling unit and still lose public trust at the point where the numbers are announced.

That is the concern now being raised by the African Democratic Congress.

The opposition party has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to prevent university lecturers with open political affiliations from serving as Returning or Collation Officers in the 2027 elections.

The demand followed reports that more than 600 senior lecturers from public universities in northern Nigeria had endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.

The ADC’s argument is straightforward.

If an academic has publicly campaigned for a candidate, the party says that person should not later be entrusted with collating or declaring the result of an election involving that candidate.

It is not saying lecturers cannot have political opinions

That distinction matters. The ADC acknowledged that lecturers, like every other Nigerian, have the constitutional right to support candidates of their choice.

The party’s objection is about what happens after that political position becomes public.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, argued that someone who has openly campaigned for a candidate should not then become one of the people responsible for determining the candidate’s electoral outcome.

That argument touches a sensitive part of Nigerian elections. University lecturers and vice-chancellors have traditionally served as election officials because they are regarded as professionals who can perform sensitive duties with credibility.

The question is whether public political endorsement changes that perception.

ADC wants the names published before election dayThe party has also asked INEC to publish the names of proposed Returning and Collation Officers sufficiently early.

That would allow political parties and citizens to examine the list and raise concerns where potential conflicts exist.

It is an interesting proposal because it shifts the argument from suspicion after an election to scrutiny before it.Instead of waiting for allegations after results are declared, the public would have an opportunity to identify possible problems beforehand.

That could strengthen confidence if handled transparently.

But the standard must apply to everyone

ADVERTISEMENT

This is where INEC faces a delicate responsibility. Political neutrality cannot become a weapon used selectively against people whose views are unpopular with one party.

If an academic openly supports Tinubu, ADC wants that person screened out.

The same principle should apply if an academic openly supports Atiku, Peter Obi or any other presidential candidate.

The issue should be conduct, not political preference.

Otherwise, an attempt to protect election integrity could become another political argument.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the ADC’s demand places an important question before INEC well ahead of 2027: how does an electoral commission distinguish between a citizen’s right to political participation and an election official’s duty to remain neutral?

The answer will matter.

Because public confidence in an election does not begin when the first ballot is cast. It begins when Nigerians believe that the people counting, collating and declaring those votes have no reason to favour one side.