The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the Independent National Electoral Commission’s warning against the publication of independently collated election results, insisting that political parties and citizens have a constitutional right to collect, collate and disseminate polling-unit figures.
The party vowed to deploy its agents and nationwide structures to document election results, collate the figures and publish verified data during the 2027 general elections, despite INEC’s caution against announcing unofficial results.
The ADC’s position was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in response to comments by INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), warning against the publication of results not officially declared by the commission.
While acknowledging INEC’s statutory authority to declare election results and announce winners, the opposition party argued that the commission’s powers do not extinguish the rights of political parties, candidates and citizens to independently gather and share election information.
“We are aware of our rights to freedom of expression under the Constitution. We are also aware of the limitations associated with those rights. And we hold that our rights to collate and share election results are not abrogated by any of the limitation clauses,” the statement said.
The party added that its agents would document results at polling units, while its structures would collate the figures before making verified information available to the public.
“The ADC will share our collated results with the public. Our agents will document results, our structures will collate them, and we will communicate verified figures to the public, clearly identifying their source and status,” it stated.
The ADC, however, stressed that its independently collated figures would not be presented as official election declarations or as a substitute for INEC’s legally recognised role in determining election outcomes.
According to the party, publishing polling-unit results independently is intended to improve transparency and give Nigerians access to information about the voting process, rather than undermine the electoral commission’s authority.
“The responsibility to make official declarations of results and to declare winners of elections cannot reasonably abrogate the right of citizens to collect and collate election results and to share them,” the party added.
The dispute comes as political parties and election stakeholders intensify preparations for the 2027 general elections, with transparency, credibility and the management of polling-unit results expected to remain central to debates over electoral integrity.
The growing use of digital platforms by political parties, candidates, election observers and citizens to document voting and publish emerging results has also heightened scrutiny of the boundaries between independent reporting and official result declarations.
The ADC maintained that political parties and citizens have legitimate roles in documenting the electoral process, insisting that transparency should not be treated as the exclusive responsibility of INEC.
It reiterated that its planned result-sharing exercise would clearly identify the figures as independently collated data, while leaving the official declaration of winners to the electoral commission.
