Presidential hopeful and candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC in the 2027 presidential election Atiku Abubakar has scolded the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for failure to display the preliminary voters register on its official website for scrutiny.
The ADC presidential hopeful made the remark in a statement issued on Thursday by his media assistant Phrank Shaibu which was made available to journalists, saying Nigerians tried to verify the identities of the 103 million voters INEC claimed to have registered for the election during the recent seven-day verification period provided by the commission, but could not do so, because the register was practically unavailable online.
According to him, the development has put a question mark on the integrity of INEC and it’s concerning to many Nigerians that the Commission decided to obey the law partially by displaying the register at voting centers when the law says it should be displayed at both the website and polling center across the country so that the list can be verified.
Abubakar cited Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026, which requires that the register be displayed at registration areas and online, saying the failure by the commission to obey the provision has dragged INEC integrity on the mud.
The ADC candidate stressed that the Electoral Act makes it mandatory for the commission to ensure a dual display online and at polling booths, saying the electoral umpire cannot on its own make the requirement optional.
The former vice president also debunked INEC’s claim that the register had been displayed for the public to scrutinize as required by the law during the seven-day period, which ended on October 5, calling on the commission to prove that it actually did so.
He said it will be difficult for Nigerians to accept the outcome of the 2027 election when they were not given the opportunity to verify those that voted during the election.
‘’Show Nigerians the register,” Abubakar said.
He added: “INEC announced a seven-day exercise and then failed to make the register available on the portal provided for public scrutiny. Section 19(1) of the Electoral Act 2026 requires display at registration areas and online. INEC does not get to treat that requirement as optional.
“Which statement is true? Where was the register published? For seven full days, or for no days at all? INEC must produce the dates, the links and the records of access.’’
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