'2027 Election May Turn Out to Be Worst-ever in Nigeria's History', Details Emerge

• Political stakeholders fear that the 2027 election may turn out to be the most awful in Nigeria's history
• A new report has uncovered the alleged propensity of politicians to win at all costs and subvert the will of the people
• Repeated calls have been made for electoral reform in Nigeria as a result of persistent issues like vote manipulation, inflated results, and lack of transparency

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics, elections, and governance in Nigeria.

FCT, Abuja - There are warning signals that the 2027 election may turn out to be the worst-ever conducted in the history of Nigeria.

According to Vanguard in a report on Sunday, September 7, this is based on "verified pieces of information" made available by "dependable sources" within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The newspaper alleged a rigging agenda by politicians who have allegedly infiltrated the system of the election management body.

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Part of the scheme, according to sources familiar with the alleged plots, will be the creation of dual original EC8 result forms, a practice reported to facilitate predetermined outcomes in strategically sensitive polling units, disparities between actual polling units’ results and posts on INEC's result viewing portal (IReV) and manipulation of the ongoing registration exercise, among other things.

One of the sources said:

“This plot involves producing identical Forms EC8A (polling unit), EC8B (ward), and EC8C (local government), one set for public presentation at polling units, and another set reserved for strategic allocation of votes.

"This strategy is to directly compromise transparency, manipulation of data uploaded to the INEC IReV."

A breach of operational protocols is to purportedly allow for discrepancies between what was physically recorded and what was transmitted electronically, thus creating structural vulnerabilities in the electoral process.

Furthermore, voter registration procedures have raised concerns.

It was gathered that newly created polling units often contain deliberately low voter populations, enabling the registration of partisan supporters while constraining participation by parties other than the one claiming the unit as a stronghold.

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In addition, it was found that limitations on re-registration, replacement of lost permanent voter cards (PVCs) and transfer procedures exacerbate the risks of systematic disenfranchisement.

Lack of confidence in INEC

In a reaction to the development, Timothy Osadolor, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC), warned that the 2027 election risked being compromised, saying he was not surprised about allegations being made about the infiltration of agency, and manipulation of voter registration.

Osadolor said INEC had already shown signs of bias and failure that could render the 2027 election fraudulent.

He said:

“It does not take rocket science to know that the 2027 elections will be a sham, a complete waste of time for Nigerians, and a waste of resources and taxpayers’ money. Unless deep, very deep, and cautious reforms are made in INEC, the future looks bleak."

In the same vein, Tony Akeni, the interim national spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP), alleged that some political forces were attempting to hijack its structures by infiltrating its ranks just as they were trying to infiltrate INEC.

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Akeni said:

"Nigerians are also aware of what the current administration has turned our institutions such as INEC into.

“The body language of INEC, as presently constituted, gives it away as an institution which is only ready to pander to the whims and caprices of the ruling party."

Read more on 2027 election:

• 2027 election: Goodluck Jonathan opens up on eligibility to contest, 'I am unstoppable'
• 2027 election: Tambuwal mentions who he will support

171 associations seek INEC registration

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that INEC revealed that it has received a total of 171 letters of intent for the registration of new political parties.

INEC national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee, Sam Olumekun, said it has received 19 more letters of intent from 19 associations seeking registration as political parties.

INEC noted that the details of the latest update are uploaded on its website and other official platforms for public information.

Source: Legit.ng