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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has stated that the online Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its first-week report of the exercise indicate that the 2027 elections may not be credible or safe for Nigerians.
The ADC, which was adopted by a coalition of some opposition leaders in the country to challenge President Bola Tinubu, said the figures contradict historical patterns and demographic realities.
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The National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this in a statement on Thursday.
INEC had on Monday released its first-week CVR statistics, which showed a total of 1,379,342 pre-registrations nationwide.
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The data shows that Osun State led with 393,269 registrations (28.5 per cent), followed by Lagos (222,205; 16.1 per cent), Ogun (132,823; 9.6 per cent) and the Federal Capital Territory (107,682; 7.8 per cent).
The statistics also revealed that four of the five states in the South-east region are trailing the table with a cumulative figure of 1,998 persons.
Ebonyi registered 261 persons (0.02 per cent), Imo registered 481 persons (0.03 per cent), Enugu registered 484 persons (0.04 per cent), while Abia has the highest number from the South-east with 772 (0.06 per cent).
Criticism
The ADC said the disparity in figures showed that there was either a technical failure in INEC’s digital registration system or a deliberate manipulation of data.
Mr Abdullahi questioned how Osun, Lagos, and Ogun could constitute over 54 per cent of all pre-registrations nationwide.
“According to INEC’s figures, Osun State alone recorded 393,269 pre-registrations in just one week. To put this in context, Osun added only 275,815 new voters between 2019 and 2023, a period of four years. In other words, Osun has now supposedly registered more people in seven days than it managed to do in an entire electoral cycle of four years.
“Even at its highest point of political mobilisation in 2022, Osun has never produced more than 823,124 votes cast in the governorship election. Now, by some miracle, nearly 20 per cent of all eligible adults in the state have rushed to register. This is not just unusual, it is statistically implausible.
“The anomalies become even more glaring when viewed in the context of the overall registration report. Across the six geopolitical zones, the South-west alone accounts for 848,359 pre-registrations, an astonishing 67 per cent of the national total. By contrast, the entire South-east recorded just 1,998 pre-registrations. To further illustrate, three states—Osun, Lagos, and Ogun—make up 54.2 per cent of all pre-registrations in Nigeria, while five states combined—Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu, Abia, and Adamawa—barely recorded 4,153, or 0.2 per cent, while the entire North-east recorded just 6.1 per cent,” the statement said.
Call for accountability
The ADC warned that the credibility of Nigeria’s democracy was at stake if INEC failed to address these anomalies.
“These fantastic figures suggest either another technical “glitch” in INEC’s digital registration system, or a more troubling possibility of deliberate manipulation of data to lay the ground for a more sinister agenda in the coming elections. In either case, INEC has some explanations to give.
“We must be clear: the voter register is the foundation upon which the entire electoral process rests. If the foundation is compromised, it brings the integrity of the elections into question. Nigerians still remember the bitter consequences of flawed voter rolls and “technical glitches” in past elections. Our democracy cannot withstand another one,” Mr Abdullahi said.
Demands
The ADC demanded that INEC urgently conduct and publish a full forensic audit of the first-week CVR data and provide a state-by-state breakdown of both physical and online registrations.
The party also demanded that the electoral commission should disclose server logs, bandwidth distribution, and regional access reports for the registration portal during the week in question.
“The ADC therefore calls on INEC to urgently conduct and publish a full forensic audit of the first-week pre-registration data, with a state-by-state breakdown of both physical and online registrations. INEC should also disclose the server logs, bandwidth distribution, and regional access reports for the registration portal during this period,” the statement said.
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The party also urged election monitoring groups, fact-checking organisations, and legal advocacy bodies to independently scrutinise the figures.
“We call on all opposition political parties to set aside rivalry and jointly demand clarity from INEC on these glaring anomalies. We urge election monitoring groups, fact-checking organisations, and legal advocacy bodies to independently interrogate these numbers and press for accountability.”
INEC has yet to respond to the ADC’s observations as of the time of this report.
